Columbia  tBntoetfitp 

THE  LIBRARIES 


GREAT  SENATORS 


UNITED  STATUS  FORTY  YEARS  AGO, 

(1848   AND    1849.) 


PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS    AND    DELINEATIONS 

OP 

CALHOUN,    BENTON,    CLAY,    WEBSTER, 
General  Houston,  Jefferson  Davis, 


AND   OTIIEK 


DISTINGUISHED    STATESMEN    OF    THAT    PERIOD. 


BY 

OLIVER      DYER. 


NEW     YOLK: 
ROBERT     BONNER'S    SONS, 

I"*nl  >lis-il  lers. 


Entered  iccording  ingress  in  tl 

Bj  ROBERT  BONNE1 
In  the  Office  >>f  the  Librarian  <>f  I  Jongi 
(.1//  Bights  Rtm 


Sz_7   2» 
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rnris  OF 
THE    Ntw    >n«. 


THE    AUTHOR  S    PREFACE, 


wini'ii   in:  WO\  in  UKS  TO  iiavk  READ. 


My  main  purpose  in  writing  this  book  was 
to  tell  some  interesting  things  (which  I  suppose 
nobody  else  can  tell)  about  distinguished  states- 
men who  came  under  my  personal  observation 
when  1  was  a  reporter  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  more  than  forty  years  ago,  and  of 
whose  characters  I  have  made  particular  study. 

For  the  benefit  of  persons  who  are  not 
familiar  with  the  public  affairs  and  public  men 
of  the  past,  1  have  found  it  expedient,  in  telling 
those  tilings  which  are  only  within  my  own 
personal  knowledge,  to  relate  other  things 
which  are  within  the  information  of  every 
student  of  our  history;  and  the  well-informed 
critic  may  think  that  in  some  cases  I  have  been 
too  particular  in  relating  what  is  so  familiar  to 


9  00  90 


t  PREFA<  r. 

him.  he  supposes  ever}  body  must  be  acquainted 
with  it.  Bui  1  have  had  experiences  in  Lectur- 
ing during  the  lasl  twenty  years  on  the  subjects 
discussed  in  this  book,  which  teach  me  that  in 
writing  for  the  people  al  large,  one  cannol  be 
boo  particular  or  too  plain,  nor  too  repetitive  as 
to  names  and  dates.  A.s  an  indication  of  the 
(•on,-,-!  in--  of  my  view-  (.11  this  point,  1  will 
mention  thai  a  few  years  ago  I  lectured  on  Cal- 
houn, Benton,  ( llay  and  Webster  ina  neighboring 
city,  and  the  aexi  day,  one  of  the  reporters  who 
were  present,  informed  the  readers  of  the  papei 
by  which  he  was  employed  thai  "Calhoun  was 
aforgotten  member  of  Congress  from  Missouri," 
and  iliii  "Benton  was  a  half-civilized  old 
buffer  from  the  liill  country  of  North  ( larolina." 

Wnerever  I  have  lectured  <>n  tin-  Bubjecl 
forth  in  ilii-  volume  i1   has  occasioned  surprise 
thai  I  .in  abolitionisl  so  long  as  slaveiy  existed, 
and  a    Republican   who  quadriennially  put  on 

the  1*1 ly-shirl   a-   long  as  thai   ensanguined 

underwear     was     in     political    vogue)    should 
speak  so  kindly,  and  in  some  respects  eulogisti 
cally,  «.r  John  C.  Calhoun  and  Jefferson  Davis. 
A    n»  that,  I  \\  ill  only  say  thai  I  spoke  of  those 


PREFACE. 

gentlemen  in  my  lectures,  and  have  written  of 
them  in  this  book,  as  I  found  them  ;  and  it  is 
pleasant  to  remember  thai  wherever  I  thus 
spoke  of  thorn  in  my  lectures,  my  remarks 
were  generously  applauded. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  tins  work  1  have 
given  a  detailed  account  of  the  movement  by 
which  Henry  Clay  was  defeated  and  General 
Taylor  nominated  in  the  Whig  National  Con- 
vention of  1848,  and  of  the  snhsequent  political 
strategy  and  management  winch  led  to  Taylor's 
election;  because  the  details  of  the  movement 
are  interesting  and  instructive,  and  (until  now) 
have  never  been  made  known.  I  supposed  and 
hoped  that  Thurlow  Weed  would  give  a  full 
account  of  that  movement  in  his  autobiography  ; 
he  could  have  written  a  chapter  on  it  that  would 
have  gone  blazing  down  the  century  :  hut.  in 
accordance  with  his  nature  and  the  habits  of  his 
life,  he  repressed  Ins  feelings,  suppressed  his 
information,  and  withheld  his  hand.  Ambil  ions 
politicians  can  learn  something  to  their  advan- 
tage by  reading  the  accounl  of  the  way  in  which 
William  H.  Seward  and  Thurlow  Weed  con- 
ducted that  campaign;  and  veteran  statesmen 


6  PREFACE. 

will  doubtless  follow  the  movements  of  those 
two  consummate  masters  of  political  strategy 
with  interest,  and  perhaps  with  delight. 

I  have  kept  the  materials  for  this  volume  by 
me,  in  phonographic  short-hand  notes,  as  long 
as  Moses  kept  sheep  for  his  father-in-law  in 
Midian  :  forty  years.  I  have  always  had  the 
intention  of  some  day  writing  them  out  for 
publication;  and  now,  in  the  hope  that  what  1 
have  written  of  the  illustrious  personages,  whose 
characters  I  have  sought  to  delineate,  may  be 
interesting  to  their  countrymen  and  useful  to 
other  writers,  I  send  forth  this  little  book  to 
the  consideration  of  those  who  may  chance  to 
read  it. 

Oliver  Dyer. 

Mount  Vernon,  X.  Y. 
September,  1889. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF  INTERESTING  EVENTS. 

I.  The  Second  Session  of  the  Thirtieth  Con- 
gress, and  Political  Events  Preceding  It. — 
Session  began  Dec.  4,  1848.  Condition  of  political 
affairs  and  state  of  public  feeling.  Close  of  the  ftfex- 
ican  war.  Acquisition  of  now  territory.  Shall  it 
come  into  the  Union  as  slave  or  free  ?  Rancorous 
bitterness  engendered  by  the  question.  Fixed  policy 
of  the  South  on  the  subject.  No  new  free  State  with- 
out a  new  slave  State.  What  the  abolition  wits  said 
about  it.  What  Col.  Benton  said  about  it.  Why  the 
Mexican  war  was  forced  on.  The  Wilmot  Proviso. 
The  unparalleled  excitement  it  occasioned.  Discus- 
sion of  it  not  ended  until  Lee  surrendered  to  Grant. 
The  proviso  in  the  Democratic,  and  Whig  National 
Conventions  of  1848.  Trampled  on  in  the  Demo- 
cratic and  smothered  in  the  Whig  Convention.  Indig- 
nation of  anti-slavery  Democrats  and  abolition  Whigs. 
Disloyalty  to  Henry  Clay.       My  surprise  thereat  ;  and 

m 


g  CONTENTS. 

my  •  I  Dpaped  very  wide  as  to  the   character  and 

ways  "f  politicians. 

1  1.    'I'd  i  NT   I  li  \ T    LED  TO  THE    DEFEAT    OP 

I!i:\u\   Clay.  — Manipulated  by  William   II.  Seward 
and  Thin-low    Weed,  of   New    York,    Thomas    Butler 
King,,of  Georgia,  and  Truman  Smith,  of  Connecticut. 
Thurlow   Weed  chief   manager.     The  motives  for  the 
movement.      The    Whig   party  in  a  critical  situation. 
Singular  and  unexpected    effeci   of  the  Mexican  war 
upon  political  parties,      General  Taylor   popular  with 
the    Whig    rank   and   file,   bul   not   with   the  leaders, 
Nomination     <>f    General    Cass    by    the     Demo,  rats 
inspires  Seward  and  Weed  with  hope;   why  it  inspires 
them  with  hope.      The    Free-soil  movement.      Bow  il 
must  be    managed  to  prevent  its  defeating  the  Whig 
candidate.      John   P.  Bale    must   be  set  aside  as   its 
lender,  and  an  influential    Democrat  put  in  his   place. 
Barnburners  and  old  Hunkers  ;     their  deadly  animos- 
ity.    General    Cass;    his  character  ;    hated  hy  Martin 
Van  lliirni  ;    also,  the   friends  of  Silas   Wright;    the 
hopes    his   nomination    gave    to  Seward    and    Weed. 
A  very  big  "  if."     Bow  t.»  overcome  the  big  u  if." 

III.  Thurlow  Weed  ;  the  Secret  of  his  Politi- 
«  At.  Power.— His  pertinacity  and  sagacity.  The  Al- 
bany Evening  Journal.  The  New  York  press:  Sun, 
Herald,  Tribune.  TJie  Times  and  The  World  not  yel 
born.     B  why  the  Albany  Journal  was  then  the 

most  influential  newspaper  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
Weed's  masterly  u.-r  of  his  power.  Bis  "personal 
column."  Bis  mode  of  winning  the  personal  regard 
of  promising  young  men.     Young  Frog,  of  Prog  Bol- 


co.ntkn  rs  9 

low.  Hundreds  of  other  Democratic  Progs,  and  also 
Whig  Frogs,  that  had  been  hopping  through  the 
York  Legislature  for  eighteen  years.  Thousands  of 
Weed's  personal  friends,  in  both  parties,  scattered  all 
through  the  State.  His  adroit  use  of  their  friendship. 
1  lis  Jesuit  ical  sympathy  with  t  he  enraged  Barnburners. 

IV.  William  II.  Seward. — Why  the  masses  did 
not  perceive  his  intellectual  greatness.  His  wonder- 
ful sagacity  and  judgment.  Flis  cultivation  of  the 
friendship  of  young  men  and  their  fondness  for  him. 
His  use  of  religious  beliefs  and  the  hopes  of  reformers. 
His  marvelous  instinct  as  to  when,  how,  and  to  whom 
to  speak  on  critical  subjects.  His  gift  of  formulating 
a  battle-cry.  lie  and  Weed  working  together  to  defeat 
Clay  and  nomiuate  Taylor.  Their  profound  cunning. 
They  have  the  co-operation  of  leading  Barnburners. 
(ireat  Barnburner  meeting  in  City  Hall  Park.  Meet- 
ing of  Whig  delegates  at  the  Astor  House  on  the  Bame 
day.  Why  the  meetings  were  thus  arranged.  The 
hand  of  Thurlow  in  it.  Inflammatory  report  made 
to  the  Barnburners  by  Churchill  ('.  Cambreling,  .John 
A.  Kennedy,  Robert  11.  Maclay,  William  V.  Have- 
meyer  and  Samuel.).  Tilden.  The  powerful  address 
read  by  David  Dudley  Field.  How  Seward  and  Weed 
turned  all  this  Barnburner  grisl  into  their  mill. 

V.  The  Whig  National  Convention  of  I 
—How  Clay  was  defeated  and  Taylor  nominated. 
The  adroitness  and  alertness  of  Taylor's  friends;  the 
enthusiasm  an (3  folly  of  Clay's.  Organization  of  the  Con- 
vention. Significant  arrangemenl  for  calling  the  rolL 
The  first  ballot.     Clay's  friends  thunder-struck   at  the 


10  CONTENTS. 

result.  Cries  of  "Treachery."  Taylor  ahead.  Second 
ballot  still  worse  for  Clay  and  better  for  Taylor.  Wily 
conduct  of  Truman  Smith.  Opponents  of  Taylor 
alarmed;  they  make  and  carry  a  motion  to  adjourn. 
Folly  of  ('lav's  friends.  Wisdom  of  Taylor's  Friends. 
Third  day  of  the  Convention,  [ntenso  but  subdued 
excitement.  Third  ballot.  Truman  Smith  shows 
liia  hand  an<l  Bounds  the  knell  of  Benry  Clay. 
Emphatic  response  of  the  Taylor  men.  Taylor  gets 
L33  votes  and  Clay  only  74.  A  wild  and  stormy 
scene.  Horace  Greeley  and  James  Watson  Webb. 
Taylor  nominated  on  the  fourth  ballot.  Wrath  of  the 
Clav  men.  They  swear  they  will  go  home  and  do  all 
th,.\  can  to  defeat  the  nomination.  Who  shall  be 
nominated  for  Vice-President  ?  Abbot  Lawrence 
thrown  overboard.  Millard  Fillmore  nominated  to 
placate  the  anti-slavery  delegates.  Bul  it  won't  do. 
Alarming  disaffection.  Horace  Greeley  Btarta  for 
home  "  across  New  Jersey,  afoot  and  alone."  Henry 
J.  Raymond's  scorn  and  hatred  of  Greeley.  Failure 
»!'  the  Whig  ratification  meeting  in  Philadelphia. 
The  ticket  unpopular  in  the  North,  Easl  and  West. 
Only  hope  of  electing  Taylor  founded  on  the  hope  that 
Van  Buren  will  lead  the  Free-soil  movement.  The  Barn- 
burners   nominate   him   at    [Jtica,  and    he    declines. 

Seward  and    Weed  to  the  P<  BCUC 

VI.  M  \  1:1 1  n  Van  P>i  i;i:n,  —  A  greater  and  better 
man  than  he  was  supposed  to  be.  .My  Brsl  meeting 
with  him;  Clay  present  also  Comparison  and 
contrast  of  the  two  great  rivals.  VauBuren's  greal 
intellectual  power,  his  elegant  manners,  hie  wonderful 


CONTENTS  1  I 


Belf-possession.  His  character  analyzed  and  Btated. 
Why  he  was  not  a  greal  orator,  die  capacity  for 
avenging  wrongs.  His  tenacity  of  purpose.  Mia  chaf- 
ing uuder  Southern  lead.  The  tyranny  of  Southern 
leaders;  what  Daniel  Webster  said  aboul  il  :  the  South 
proud  of  it.  Van  Burcn  resolved  on  revoll  and  vi  i 
auce.  Seward  audWeed  understand  him.  They  form 
an  alliance  with  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  New  Xork,  a 
distinguished  democrat  and  Van  Buren's  mosl  trusted 
friend.  A  possible  way  of  bringing  Van  Buren  to  the 
front  as  the  leader  of  the  great  anti-slavery  bolt 

VII.  The  Free-soil  National  Convention  \t 
Buffalo.— John  P.  Hale  the  favorite  of  the  Con- 
vention. Danger  of  his  nomination  as  the  Free-soil 
candidate  for  the  Presidency.  Van  Buren's  discourag- 
ing letter.  Hale's  friends  sanguine.  They  make  the 
same  mistakethal  Clay's  friends  made  at  Philadelphia. 
Butler's  masterly  tacties  in  heading  off  Bale's 
nomination.  The  Committee  on  nominations.  Butler 
controls  the  committee,  A  searching  question  from  an 
inquisitive  committeeman.  ••Damn  his  [Van  Buren's] 
cabbages  and  turnips!  what  i]in>.<  he  say  about  abolition 
of  slavery  in  the  Deest rick  of  Colnmby  ?  "  Butler's 
triumphant  reply.  Van  Buren  nominated,  and  accepts. 
Charles  Francis  Adams  nominated  for  Vice-President, 
and  accepts.  Rousing  platform  adopted.  The  Frec- 
soiler's  battle-cry:  "No  more  slave  States,  and  no 
slave  territory." 

VIII.  The  Tri  w.n.u;  fight  for  the  Presi- 
dency, AND  THE  EFFECT  OF  LTS  RESULT  DPON 
public    feeling     in     Washington.— Despondency 


12  CONTENTS. 

of  ih«'  Whigs  at  the  beginning  of  bhe  campaign.  Clay 
comes  to  the  rescue.  Daniel  Webster  enters  the  6ght. 
So  does  Horace  Greeley.  The  resull  depends  on  the 
vote  of  New  York.  Van  Buren  is  so  popular  that  he 
draws  off  votes  enough  from  Cass  to  give  New  York 
to  Taylor,  and  "  Old  Zach"  is  elected  President. 
Animosities  engendered  by  the  bitter  con tesl  are  trans- 
ferred to  Washington.  Irritation  of  the  South;  also 
of  tin-  North.  Agitating  rumors;  mobs;  apprehensions 
of  leading  statesmen 33 


CHAPTER  II. 

GENERAL  BOUSTON.     JEFFERSON    DAVIS.     JOHN  P. 
HALE.  -STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS.— SIMON  CAM- 
ERON.     II  WMIiAL    HAMLIN.     ALEX- 
ANDER II.  STEPHENS. 

I.  General  Sam  Houston. — Thirty  States  and 
sixty  Senators  in  is  is.  Only  two  of  the  Senators  now 
living  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  and  Jefferson 
Davis,  of  Mississippi.  Four  great  Senators — Calhoun, 
Benton,  Clay  and  Webster  of  whom  I  intend  to  write 
particularly,  other  Senators  worthy  of  notice.  Gen- 
eral 1  touston.  The  romance  which  encircled  Ins 
name.  His  boyhood.  His  early  popularity.  Eis 
brilliant  career.  Elected  Governor  of  Tennes 
when  thirty-four  years  old.  Marries  a  beautiful  girl. 
A  harrowing  discovery.     Resigns  his  governorship  and 


CONTENTS.  13 

disappears   from  civilization.     Reason    for   his  eon 
Becomes  a  chief  of   i  be  ( Iherokees.     ( !  oee    bo   T< 
ami  is  made  communder-iu-chief  of   her   army.     De- 
feats and  captures   Santa  A.nua.     Texas  annexed   to 
the  United    States   and    Houston    becomes   a    CJnited 
States  Senator.    Interest  fell  in  General  Houston  forty 
wars  ago.  Tragic  circumstances  of  t  be  Texan  war  of  in- 
dependence then  fresh  in  the  public  mind.    Heroism  of 
the  defenders  of  the  Alamo.     Robust  religion  on  the 
Niagara  frontier.    How  we  prayed  for  vengeance  on  the 
Mexicans.    News  of  the  massacre  of  Colonel  Fannin  and 
his  men  at  Goliad.     Tremendous  excitement.      People 
aroused  to  madness.   Company  of  boys  formed  to  march 
down  and  ravage  Mexico.     News  comes  of    Houston's 
victory  over   Santa  Anna,  and    the  boys   stay  at  home. 
Houston  a  popular  hero.      My  first  sighl  of  him.      I!  - 
personal   appearance.     His  style  of   dress.     His  per- 
sonal  habits.     Not  fitted    to  shine  in  a  parliamentary 
body.     Whittling  was  his  principal  employment  in  the 
Senate.     His   impatience  with   long-winded  speak 
His  devotion  to  lady  friends.      Would  have  had  a  Cab- 
inet of  women  if  he  had  been  President.     A  lonely, 
melancholy  man  ;    and   no  wonder,  if   the  tragic  story 
of  his   early   life   was    true.       His    patriotism.       His 
death. 

II.  Jefferson  Davis.— He  was  forty  years  old 
in  1848.  Was  General  Taylor's  son-in-law.  His 
lameness  from  a  wound  received  a  little  while  bef< 
Was  a  popular  hero.  His  gallantry  al  the  battle  of 
Buena  Vista.  General  Taylor's  isolated  condition  at 
Buena  Vista.     Terrible  apprehensions  as  to  bis  fate. 


U  CONTENTS. 

No  news  of  lii iii  attainable.  Santa  Anna  pushing 
upon  him  with  an  overwhelming  force,  [nexpressible 
public  anxiety.  The  ear  of  the  nation  turned  to  Buena 
Vista  in  an  agony  of  suspense.  News  at  last.  A  i 
perate  fight  and  a  great  victory.  A  wild  revel  of  pub- 
lic rejoicing.  The  whole  country  breaks  out  into  illum- 
inations. Glowing  accounts  of  the  gallantry  and  skill  of 
Colonel  Jefferson  Davis,  of  the  First  Mississippi  Vol- 
unteers. He  holds  a  vital  point  against  Bis  times  his 
force.  Frightfully  wounded  and  ordered  to  quit  the 
field.  But  lie  won't  go.  lias  his  wound  dressed 
while  sitting  in  his  saddle  and  holds  <>n.  The  desper- 
ate charge  <d*  the  Mexican  cavalry  apon  the  Mississip- 
pians.  Colonel  Davis  forms  them  into  a  V.  The 
Mexicans  ride  in  and  are  blown  from  their  saddles. 
That  ends  it.  Mr.  Davis's  personal  appearance  and 
bearing.  His  Btyle  and  ability  as  a  debater.  J I  is 
kindness  of  heart  and  his  courtesy  to  everybody.  He 
wins  nay  affection  and  keeps  it.  although  I  was  a  hot- 
hearted  young  abolitionist  and  detested  his  political 
principles.  My  grateful  feelings  towards  him  after 
forty  years. 

III.  John'  P.  Hale. — The  first  man  eli 
United  States  Senator  on  a  Bquare  anti-slavery  issue. 
Report  that  his  life  was  threatened.  Futile  attempt  to 
browbeal  him  into  silence.  What  the  Methodist  Min- 
ister from  New  Hampshire  said  aboui  Hale.  Hale's 
courage,  his  good-nature,  his  laziness.  His  wit  ami 
humor.  His  voice  and  Btyle  of  speaking.  His  readi- 
ness al  repartee.  Senator  Foote,  of  Mississippi,  - 
they'd  hang  him  if  they  ever  caught  him  in  that  State. 


CONTENTS.  15 

Sale's  good- n at u rod  and  witty  reply.     Sis  final  popu 
larity  with  the  majority  of  his  Senatorial  colleagues. 
1\'.    Stephen    A.    Douglas.  — Had    beeD    but    a 

little  while  in  the  Senate,  in  L848.  Already  taking 
high  rank  as  a  debater.  His  fine  voice  and  impn 
manner.  Called  "The  little  giant,"  but  not  a  little 
man.  Short  of  stature  hut  large  in  body.  His  large, 
finely-developed  head.  His  urbane,  hut  simple  and 
democratic  manner  in  social  intercourse.  Not  an 
atom  of  pretense  about  him.  His  fondness  for  young 
men,  and  their  affection  for  him.  His  winning  man- 
ner with,  reporters.  Testimony  of  a  distinguished 
friend,  after  Douglas*  death,  as  to  his  fascinating  per- 
sonal intercourse  with  young  men. 

V.  Simon  Ca  m  i:i;on\ — His  knowingness.  His 
physical  and  mental  alertness.  His  style  in  debate  : 
what  John  P.  Hale  said  of  it.  He  brings  on  tiie  first 
debate  of  the  session.  Is  a  Pennsylvania  Tariff  Dem- 
ocrat. Exasperates  his  Democratic  brethren  by  at- 
tacking their  free-trade  policy.  Senator  Hale's  hu- 
morous remarks.  The  Whig  Senators  enjoy  the  quar- 
rel. Why  the  reporters  were  grateful  to  Cameron  for 
bringing  on  the  debate.  The  system  of  reporting. 
Dissatisfaction  of  Senators.  Resolution  to  abolish  or 
modify  the  system.  Cameron  stands  by  the  reporters 
and  they  all  like  him.  His  faithfulness  to  friends. 
His  pluck  and  grit.  A  memorable  occasion  on  which 
they  were  displayed.  His  personal  collision  with.  Sen- 
ator Foote.  What  General  Houston  said  about  it. 
His  popularity.  Indiscreet  expressions  of  admiration 
by  some  of  his  friends. 


16  CONTENTS. 

VI.  Hannibal  Hamlin. — He  is  the  youngest  o^ 
the  two  Burvivors  of  the  sixty  Senators  of  L848L 
When  be,  Jefferson  Davis  and  Cameron  were  respec- 
tively born.  His  distinguished  career.  Seldom  took 
part  in  debate.  My  meagre  observation  of  him.  Two 
convictions  which  Hamlin's  appearance  impressed  upon 
me,  as  to  his  honesty  and  integrity,  and  as  to  his  geni- 
ality an  I  agreeableness  as  n  companion. 

VII.  Alexander  H.  Stephens.— An  Incident 
at  Judge  McLean's. — A  lesson  in  phonography  to 
distinguished  people.  Master  Murphy's  exhibition  of 
skill  in  rapid  writing.  Mr.  Stephens  objects  to  having 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  read  to  Murphy, 
cause  he  (Stephens)  when  he  was  as  old  as  Murphy  (14 
years,)  knew  it  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  by  heart.  Hon.  Thomas  Bwing  thinks  that 
Stephens  must  have  been  a  very  precocious  boy. 
Stephens  Bays  thai  he  was  uoi  precocious,  and  that  all 
his  Bchool-fellows  were  equally  familiarwith  the  Declara- 
tion and  the  Constitution.  Smart  boysdown  in  Georgia. 
According  to  Calhoun.  South  Carolina  boys  were 
scholastically  brought  upinatotallydifferenl  way.. .110 


COOTE  17 

CHAPTER   III. 
JOHN     C.     CALHOUN. 

I.  How  Calhoun  was  looked  dtoh  in  the 
North.-  My  own  hostile  feelings  towards  him.  M 3 
first  view  of  him  in  the  Senate.  His  appearance  per- 
fectly satisfactory.  He  looked  like  an  em  bod  i  men  I 
of  the  devil.  Eis  personal  appearance.  The  firs! 
time  1  heard  him  in  debate.  That  everlasting  Wilmol 
Proviso  comes  up  from  an  unexpected  quarter.  It 
brings  Calhoun  to  his  feet.  He  denounces  the  petition 
containing  the  Proviso.  His  elegant,  winning,  con- 
vincing manner.  His  charming  voice.  Benton 
replies  ferociously  and  exasperatingly.  A  heated 
debate.  Calhoun  maintains  his  high-toned  and 
captivating  manner  to  its  close.  My  change  of  feeling 
towards  him.  I  begin  to  like  him.  1  don't  like  my 
liking  him.  [  think  it  is  traitorous  to  my  abolition 
principles,  but  as  time  goes  on  I  like  him  better  and 
better,  in  spite  of  all  I  can  do. 

II.  A  New  Year's  call  on  Calhoun;  the 
State  Rights  doctrine  from  his  own  lips. — I  call, 
at  Mr.  Calhoun's  request,  to  explain  the  then  new  sys- 
tem of  phonographic  writing  to  him.  His  interesl  in 
the  system  and  in  Master  Murphy's  exhibitions  of  rapid 
writing.  lie  talks  about  reporting.  One  mistake 
which  reporters  constantly  made  in  reporting  bis 
speeches.      They    represented     him   as   Baying   "this 


1S  CONTENTS 

nation  "  instead  of  "  tins  Union."  He  never  called 
the  United  States  a  "  nation.''  The  reason  he  didn't 
call  the  United  States  a  "  nation  w  involved  the  whole 
State  Rights  doctrine.  Subsequenl  interviews.  Cal- 
houn's explanation  of  "  Sovereignty/'  His  distinction 
between  sovereignty  and  government.  The  doctrine 
of  State  sovereignty.  Why  the  Onion  was  formed. 
Its  powers  and  its  limitations.  Why  a  single  State  is 
more  sovereign  than  the  United  States.  The  Federal 
Government  hasn't  any  sovereignty  at  all,  but  is  tin 
mere  common  agent  or  employee  of  the  sovereign 
States.  Under  what  circumstances  a  State  has  a  right 
to  Becede  from  the  Union. 

III.  The  doctrine  op  secession  originallv 
not  a  South  Carolina  but  a  Massachusetts 
heresy.  —  It  was  not  originated  by  Calhoun,  but  l»\ 
Josiah  Quincy.  First  broached  by  Quincy  in  the 
II. .use  of  Representatives  in  January,  L811.  11 
called  to  order  by  Poindexter,  of  Mississippi.  Qnincj 
reduces  his  words  to  writing  so  there  can  be  no  mis- 
take. The  Speaker  decides  that  he  is  out  of  order. 
He  appeals  from  the  decision  of  the  Speaker  and  the 
House  bu stain 8  his  appeal  by  a  vote  of  56  to  53. 
Calhoun  did  not  take  his  Beat  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives till  ten  months  afterwards.  In  his  iirst 
report  to  the  House,  on  Foreign  Relations,  he  calls 
the  United  States  "  this  nation,"  showing  that  he  had 
not  then  adopted  Quincy*  ondoctrine.     Thirty- 

three    years    afterwards,    in     L844,    Charles    Francis 
Adams  introduci  -non  ami  disunion  resolution 

into  th.'  Massachusetts  Legislature,  which  is  adopted, 


CONTENTS.  lit 

thus  following  up  Quincy's  lead.  While  m  t  attempt* 
ing  to  exonerate  Calhoun  for  the  consequences  of  his 
political  course,  I  wish  to  tiv.it  the  subject  fairly  and 
truthfully.  What  is  sauce  for  the  South  Carolina 
goose  is  nls  >  sauce  for  the  M ;: 3S a  ch u 3(  i  a  gander. 

IV.  Calhoun's  views  on  the  Education  oi 
Boys  and  his  opinion  of  General  Jackson.— He 
thought  Northern  people  all  wrong  as  to  their  ideas 
and  modes  of  education.  Too  much  cultivation  of 
the  mind  and  not  enough  development  of  body, 
South  Carolina  boys  trained  differently  from  Gi 
boys.  "Look  at  that  boy  I"  (Master  .Murphy., 
How  South  Carolina  boys  were  trained  in  Calhoun's 
time.  What  the  ultimate  result  of  the  northern  sys- 
tem of  education  will  be.  The  people,  though  intel- 
lectually brilliant,  will  have  to  take  an  inferior  posi- 
tion in  practical  affairs.  Calhoun  probably  got  a 
good  deal  of  satisfaction  out  of  this  view  of  the  case. 
My  question  about  GeneralJackson.  It  was  an  inex- 
cusable blunder.  Its  effect  on  Calhoun.  His  reply. 
Its  significance  ;  it  seemed  to  be  a  vivid  revelation  of 
Calhoun's  inward  spirit. 

Calhoun's  Quarrel  with  GeneralJackson; 
and  ris  result.  —  My  increasing  affection  for  Calhoun, 
and  regret  at  his  political  course.  His  splendid  career, 
from  his  entry  into  public  life  to  his  rupture  with 
Jackson.  Cause  of  the  rupture.  Jackson's  high- 
handed course  in  Florida  in  L819.  His  wrath  when 
Congress  censured  his  course.  Threatens  to  cut  off 
the  ears  of  Congressmen.  President  Monroe  asks  for 
the  opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  members  of  his  Cabi- 


20  CONTENTS. 

net.  All  the  opinions  favorable  to  .Jackson,  except 
Calhoun's,  yet  Jackson  Bomehow  got  the  idea  that 
Calhoun  was  the  only  Cabinet  officer  who  stood  by 
him.  Hia  gratitude  to  Calhoun.  Calhoun  elected 
Vice-Presiden!  on  the  Jacksou  ticket.  In  the  direct 
line  of  succession  to  the  Presidency.  But  his  opinion 
of  L819  agaiust  Jackson,  is  brought  to  light.  Old 
Hickory's  fury.  He  swears  eternal  vengeance  againsl 
Calhoun:  whose  hopes  of  future  national  promotiou 
arc  blighted.  How  the  fatal  opinion  came  to  be 
made  known.  All  sorts  of  opinions  on  the  subject. 
The  Pegg}  O'Neil  or  Mrs.  Eaton  controversy  supposed 
io  have  occasioned  the  exposure.  What  the  Peggy 
O'Neil  scandal  was.  General  Jackson  involved  in  a 
war  with  a  coterie  of  aristocratic  ladies.  The  ladies 
more  than  a  match  for  Old  Hickory.  He  is  heat  en, 
the  only  time  in  his  life.  It  is  thought  that  this  con- 
troversy occasioned  the  divulgation  of  Calhoun's  Cab- 
inet opinion.  Some  charge  the  exposure  upon  Van 
Buren  ;  others,  upon  Crawford,  of  Georgia.  Effeci  of 
the  divulgation  of  the  opinion,  and  the  rupture  with 
Jackson,  upon  Calhoun,  His  new  departure  as  to 
slavery.  The  South  follows  his  lead.  Henry  clay's 
reply  to  one  of  ( Jalhoun's  points. 

VI.  Calhoi  \ V  i  \-<  [nation  in  Personal i nter- 
coursk.— His  conversational  powers.  His  voice.  His 
enunciation.  The  simplicity  of  his  manners.  Clear- 
:'  bis  ideas.  Harriet  Mart  mean's  singular  dec- 
laration about  him.  From  what  her  supposition 
probably  arose.  Calhoun's  kindness  of  heart.  His 
moral   ami    spiritual    purity.       His   urbanity,   refine- 


CONTENTS.  21 

toent,  gentleness,  winsomeness,  strength  and  manli- 
nc'ss.  J  Lis  beautiful  nature  mirrored  in  hie  face. 
His  morning  greeting  like  a  benediction  that   i 

the  whole  clay.  His  unsatisfactory  political  life. 
The  Bweetnesa  and  i'elicity  of  his  social  life.  Bis  lasl 
days. — The  advantage  to  me  of  my  early  acquaintance 
with  Calhoun  and  Jefferson  Davis 147 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THOMAS     II.     BENTON. 

I.  Bexton's     hatred     of     Calhoun. — Benton 

called  the  Great  Missourian  ;  Calhoun,  the  (iiv.it 
South  Carolinian.  The  two  men  contrasted.  Why 
Benton  hated  Calhoun. 

II.  HOW  TO  ESTIMATE  CHARACTER. — The  two 
factors — Heredity  and  Environment — in  the  formation 
of  character.  Heredity  can  only  be  developed,  nol 
changed.  Tragic  incident  illustrating  this  truth.  A 
vegetarian  bear.  Trying  to  change  a  bear  from  a 
carnivorous  to  a  herbivorous  animal.  The  tragic 
result.  What  are  considered  unaccountable  develop- 
ments of  character  explainable  by  the  doctrine  of 
heredity. 

III.  Benton's  character. — His  heredity.  It 
had  characteristics  of  the  bear,  the  bull  and  the  eagle. 
Mentally  and  politically  a  Roman  Senator  :  in 
physique  and  temper  a  Roman  gladiator.  Bis 
wonderful  body  and  his  wonderful  head.  His  courage 
and  his  cunning.     His  perception,  his   firmness  and 


gg  CO  NTH  NTS. 

his  self-esteem.  His  head  ran  up  to  a  peak  like  the 
island  of  Teneriffe.  His  wonderful  combination  of 
mental,  physical  and  moral  qualities.  His  environ- 
ment. From  boyhood,  and  during  the  first  half  of 
his  life,  it  was  such  as  to  bring  his  hereditary  traits  to 
a  full  development.  Fighting  Indians,  wild  beasts 
and  half-civilized  neighbors.  Street  fight  with 
General  Jackson  in  Nashville.  (Joes  to  Missouri. 
Fiahts  continue.  What  Benton  .-aid  aboul  his  fights  : 
they  were  followed  by  funerals.  Elected  United 
States  Senator.  His  character  then  fixed  ;  what  it 
was.  How  it  is  to  be  judged.  His  singular  habit  of 
bathing.  "The  Roman  gladiators  did  it,  sir."  His 
skin  had  become  a  shrath  of  leather.  He  was  in 
every  sense  the  thickest-skinned  man  of  his  time. 

[V.  Benton's  characteristics  a.s  a  derater.— 
Hiaseeming  indifference  to  praise  or  blame.  His  capa- 
city for  wrath.  Most  dangerous  in  debate  when  most 
angry.  His  wit  and  sarcasm.  His  power  of  torturing 
an  opponent.  His  singular  and  formidable  use  of  the 
word  "sir."  His  amusing  and  effective  mode  of 
repeating  phrases  with  slighl  variations.  A  memor- 
able instance  of  that  practice.  His  knowledge  of  the 
resources  of  the  country.  His  power  in  all  questions 
relating  to  material  and  practical  affaire.  Nol 
eloquent,  but  interesting.  The  old  Indian-fighter 
apparent  in  his  manner.  His  discursive  mode  of 
speaking.  Locking  for  Bcalps  in  by-paths  of  animad- 
version. His  habit  of  expunging  extraneous  matter 
from  his  speeches  after  the  reporters  had  written  them 
out.       Would   eut    his    speeches    down    from    a-half    to 


CONTENTS:  23 

two-thirds.     The  reporters,  being  paid  by  the  column, 
didn't  like  such  rut hless  curtailments. 

V.  Benton's  Egotism.— The  mosl  marked  feature 
of  his  character.  Yet  not  at  all  offensive  ;  on  the 
contrary,  agreeable.  It  was  recognized  as  a  fitting 
apex  to  hia  pyramidal  character.  It  pervaded  every- 
thing he  said  or  did.  Anecdotes  illustrating  hia 
egotism.  Genera]  Jackson  and  the  Onited  States 
Bank  ;  publication  of  his  "  Thirty  Years  in  the 
United  States  Senate."  His  absurdly  high  opinion  of 
the  public  estimation  and  the  popularity  of  his 
writings,  speeches  and  Congressional  reports.  More 
anecdotes.  "An  American  kneels  only  to  God  and 
woman,  sir."  "  T-r-u-s-ten  Polk  Vs  ''You  lie,  sir. 
I  cram  the  lie  down  your  throat,  sir."  "  When  God 
Almighty  lays  his  hand  upon  a  man,  sir,  I  take  mine 
off,  sir." 

VI  The  Better  side  of  Benton's  Charac- 
ter.—  Hi-  patriotism.  His  high  sense  of  public  duty. 
His  honesty.  His  friendship  for  the  poor- 
blacks  as  well  aspoor  whites.  His  protection  of  frontier- 
men  and  pioneers.  His  fidelity  to  his  family  and  his 
friends.  Touching  anecdote  aboui  his  wife, showing  his 
affectionate  and  chivalric  devotion  bo  her.  Hia  death. 
Characteristic  conduct  as  the  breath  faded  from  hia 
iron  lips 1  '• ,( ' 


24  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HENRY       CLAY. 

I.  Some  of  Clay's  distinguishing  chabactbb 
[STK  s. — His  height.  His  brilliancy  and  his  chivalry. 
\\\<  phenomena]  popularity  and  the  reason  of  it.  His 
rare  combination  of  attractive  qualities.  His  captivat- 
ing manners.  His  marvelous  memory.  Eis  kindness 
of  heart.  His  genuine  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his 
fellow-citizens.  His  intense  patriotism.  The  great 
champion  of  American  industry.  His  interest  in  all 
kinds  of  industrial  pursuits  and  in  the  people  engaged 
in  them. 

II.  Leading  characteristic  of  his  kind;  his 
oratory.— Penetration  the  leading  characteristic  of 
his  mind.  His  great  powers  of  perception.  Bis  man- 
ner in  debate.  His  wonderful  voice.  His  animation 
and  vehemence.  His  speaking  countenance.  A  great 
soul  on  tire.  The  effect  of  his  oratory  enhanced  by 
the  peculiar  conformation  of  his  forehead.  Sometimes 
Beemed  to  be  rising  in  the  air  and  taking  the  audience 
along  with  him.  What  an  old  lady  Baid  abonl  the  ef- 
fecl  of  his  oratory.  The  secret  of  all  this.  Clay's 
unique  and  unmatchable  heredity.  Hi<  physical 
structure.  His  vital  force.  His  strenuous  blood.  How 
he  came  to  pass,  in  his  totality,  and  what  the  nel  re- 
sult of  it  all  w;is.  His  leuusty.  "  I'd  rather  be  right 
than   be  President."     Hia   first  Bolicitnde  waa  for  his 


CONTENTS. 

principles  ;  his  second,  for  his  friends  :  his  lasl ,  for  him 
self.  His  industrj  ;  his  simplicity  of  life.  The  peo- 
ple believed  in  him,  and  all  these  things  helped  his 
oratory.  His  "looking  countenance."  The  clearness 
and  simplicity  of  his  style.  Clay's  speeches  are  noi 
read  now.  It  is  for  the  same  reason  that  a  lover's 
speeches  are  not  read.  They  are  made  for  the  occa- 
sion and  not  for  future  ages.  Clay  spoke  to  win  his 
cause  right  there  and  then  and  was  content  with  his 
immediate  success.  Clay's  felicitous  style  of  telling 
an  anecdote.     One  of  his  favorite  stories. 

III.  Clay's  chief  fault  in  debate. — A  notable 
instance  of  its  exhibition.  His  collision  with  Cal- 
houn. Their  estrangement  for  years.  Their  touch- 
ing reconciliation.  A  memorable  scene.  The  per- 
sonal manner  of  the  two  great  Senatorial  veterans 
contrasted. 

IV.  The  way  in-  which  the  four  great  Sen- 
ators— -Calhoun,  Bentox,  Clay  wi>  V\Tebsteb- 
received  strangers  who  whim-  [ntroduced  to 
THEM. — The  custom  of  introducing  strangers  to  the 
''Great  Four/'  by  members  of  Congress.  Form  of 
introduction.  Calhoun's  way  of  receiving  a  Btranger. 
Benton's  way.  His  overwhelming  and  imperious  gra- 
ciousness  frightens  a  stranger.  Webster's  manner  : 
Cold,  ungracious  and  offensive.     He  made  enem 

it.  Clay's  manner  :  affable,  captivating  and  full  v\'  tact 
and  good-fellowship.  Made  friends  of  the  introducers 
and  the  persons  introduced. 

V.  Tom  Marshall's  anecdote.— How  the  law 
firm  of  Breckenridge  &  Marshall  gravitated  to  the  head 


L>,;  CONTENTS. 

of  the  Kentucky  bar,  with  only  one  exception,  and  that 
eption  wag  Henry  Clay.  How  they  longed  to  en- 
counter (May.  bo  as  to  put  an  end  to  the  one  exception 
to  their  leadership.  They  watch  for  an  opportunity 
and  find  it.  How  they  supposed  they  had  "  laid  out" 
Clay  forever.  Bui  they  were  mistaken.  How  the  old 
limi  drove  Marshall  to  the  bottle  and  Breckenridge  to 
the  Bible  with  one  Bwoop  of  his  paw. 

VI.  Clay's  felicity  ix  EXORDIUM. — A  notable 
example.  A  sketch  leading  up  to  the  occasion.  Bis 
reti racy  from  the  Senate  in  1842.  His  reason  for  re- 
tiring. Treachery  of  the  "Tyler  Whigs."  Clay's 
intolerable  position.  lie  was  missed  as  Boon  as  he  re- 
tired. The  people  wanted,  him  back.  Clay's  poverty. 
The  old  man  goes  home  to  Lexington,  Kentucky,  and 
resumes  the  practice  of  law  to  earn  his  daily  bread. 
The  spectacle  touches  the  hear;  of  the  nation.  The 
rank  and  file  of  the  Whig  party  clamor  for  his  nomi- 
nation for  the  Presidency  in  1844.  Bis  enemies 
alarmed.  They  set  to  work  to  kill  him  off.  A  con- 
certed system  of  defamation.  Be  announces  that  he 
will  meet  bis  fellow-citizens  at  Lexington  and  reply  to 
his  defamers.  A  great  multitude  assembles  to  hear 
him.  The  composition  of  the  audience.  ( 'lay's  open- 
ing remarks  Bel  the  people  wild.  Great  excitement. 
Enemies  of  Benry  Clay  looked  for,  but  luckily  none 
were  found.  Bis  -iv.it  ^>eech  and  itsgreat  effect.  Be 
is  nominated  for  the  Presidency  by  acclamation  in  Ml. 
A  great  campaign  and  a  greal  defeat  A  Whig  poet's 
lamentation.  The  cause  of  Clay's  defeat.  Bis  elec- 
tion to  the  Presidency  omitted    from    the  great   pro- 


CONTENTS  >j7 

gramme  of  events  that  was  prepared   for  the  United 

States  by  the  hand  of  God 218 


OHAPTEB  VI. 
I)  A  X  I  E  L    W  E  B  S  T  E  R  . 

I.  The  godlike  Daniel.  —  His  intellectual  supe- 
riority over  all  rivals.  His  personal  appearance  :  his 
phenomenal  head  ;  his  brow;  his  eyes  ;  his  forehead  : 
his  majestic  personality  ;  his  voice  ;  his  power  of 
magnifying  a  word;  his  hair;  his  complexion.  The 
overwhelming  atmosphere  and  sense  of  power  which 
emanated  from  and  surrounded  him. 

II.  His  first  a  ppe  arance  (of  the  sessionJ  in 
the  Senate  chamber, — How  I  knew  it  was  Webster. 
His  reception  by  the  Senate.  The  attention  and 
respect  always  paid  to  him.  No  other  Senator  list- 
ened to  as  he  was.  His  miserable  health.  His  ap- 
pearance and  reception  whenever  he  arose  to  address 
the  Senate  ;  perfect  description  of  him  from  Para- 
dise Lost. 

III.  Webster's  mental  ma  ke-up. — The  most  won- 
derful ever  known  on  the  American  continent.  The 
operations  of  Ids  perceptive  and  reflective  faculties. 
His  imagination.  His  veneration.  Some  things  in 
which  he  was  unrivalled.  What  is  necessary  in  order 
to  understand  Webster's  greatness.  Aggregation  of 
inferiority  cannoi  produce  superiority.  Illustrated 
by  the  Bpeed  of  the  famous  race-horse   Eclipse.      Sis 


CONTENTS. 

body  large  enough  to  support  his  brain.  Bis  temper- 
aments. Their  admirable  correlation  with  bis  whole 
physical  organism.  The  wonderful  mental  result  of 
all  this.  Webster's  irresistible  logical  power.  His 
subtlety  never  understood  or  appreciated.  Applica- 
tion of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  anecdote  of  Richard  Coeur 
de  Lion  and  Saladin.  Crowning  attributes  of  Web- 
ster's mind.  His  eloquence.  His  vast  common  sense. 
His  power  of  concentration  and  demonstration.  Pecu- 
liar quality  of  his  condensation.  Quintilian's  "  Insti- 
tutes of  Oratory.*'  Webster's  oratory  came  up  to  all 
the  requirements  of  the  old  Roman.  His  exordium. 
His  statement  of  fact.  The  conclusiveness  of  his 
argument.  Xo  use  for  any  one  to  reply.  Application 
to  Webster  of  Quintilian's  characterization  of  Cicero. 

IV.  Webster  as  a  parliamentary  leader. — 
A  memorable  instance  of  bis  skill  and  power.  Last 
night  of  the  Second  Session  of  the  Thirtieth  Coi 
Tlir  Bession  supposed  to  expire  at  midnight.  Two 
important  bills — the  Civil  and  Diplomatic  Appropia- 
tion  bill,  and  the  bill  establishing  the  Department  of 

the    Interior — to    be    passed,    both    loaded    down    with 

Senatorial  amendments.  Discussions  on  the  Interior 
Department  bill.  Calhoun's  State-rights  argnment. 
Webster's  reply.  Webster  powerfully  assisted  i»\  Sen- 
ator Davis,  of  Mississippi.  Hour  of  midnight  strikes 
and  many  Senators  hold  thai  the  session  has  termina- 
ted. Other  Senators  say  the  great  Appropiation  bill 
mu8l  be  passed,  or  the  Government  can'l  goon,  unless 
the  iiH-ojniiiLr  President  (General  Taylor)  calls  an 
extra  session  of  Congress.    Others  reply  that  ii  is  no  use 


CONTENTS. 

to  try  to  pass  the  bill,  the  House  of  Representatives 
having  amended  the  Senate's  California  amendment, 
there  is  no  possibility  of  breaking  t  he  dead-lock.  Ben- 
ton, Cass,  Calhoun  and  other  Senators  si  1  Bilent,as  they 
hold  that  the  session  of  the  Senate  has  expired. 
Webster  comes  to  the  rescue.  He  first  Bettles  the 
question  as  to  the  session  of  the  Senate.  It  most 
continue,  until  the  Appropriation  bill  is  passed  with- 
out regard  to  c-1-o-c-k-s.  Effect  of  his  utterance  of 
the  word  clocks.  He  convinces  the  majority  of  the 
Senators  that  the  Senate  is  in  lawful  session.  The 
debate  on  the  bill  goes  on.  Scenes  of  indescribable 
confusion.  Amendments  piled  upon  amendments. 
"The  House  that  Jack  Built."  A  motion  to  adjourn 
sine  die.  Webster  defeats  it.  "The  President  of  the 
United  States  has  gone  home."  Webster's  replv  to 
the  announcement.  Senator  Foote's  intolerable  ver- 
bosity, lie  is  hissed.  He  is  groaned  at.  His  ma?- 
niloquent  declaration.  Webster  comes  to  the  rescue 
of  the  Appropriation  bill.  His  mastery  on  every 
point.  His  art ;  his  humor;  his  good  nature;  his 
tact ;  his  crushing  logic  ;  his  superior  dialed  ic  adroit- 
ness ;  his  sarcasm;  his  soothing  flattery;  his  per- 
suasiveness; his  common  sense;  his  knowledge  of 
human  nature;  bis  terrific  power;  his  good-nature 
under  interruptions  ;  his  thundering  response  to  die 
of  Senator  Foote's  interruptions  ;  the  effeel  on  1 
Webster's  constant  progress  toward  victory;  his  final 
triumph  ;  the  Senatorial  amendment  is  receded  from, 
and  the  Appropiation  hill  passed.  The  Senate 
adjourns  at  7  o'clock   Sunday   morning.      Inadequacy 


30  (  ONTENT& 

of   the  printed  report   to   give   anything   like   a   just 
idea  of  the  scene,  or  of  Webster's  power. 

A'.  Otheb  chabactebistics. — General  acknowl- 
edgement of  Webster's  intellectual  power  :  also,  of 
certain  of  his  defects.  Whal  those  defects  were,  and 
the  effect  of  them.  Perhaps  it  was  fortunate  for  the 
country  that  he  had  such  defects.  His  incomputable 
service  to  the  country.  He  won  the  battle  for  the 
Union  in  the  Senate,  aud  thus  prepared  the  way  for 
our  armies  to  win  the  battles  for  it  in  the  field. 

VI.    Ax  OCCASION  WHEN   WEBSTEB  WAS  ENBAGED. 

—Butler's  (of  South  Carolina)  assertion  of  the  bad 
faith  of  the  Northern  States.  He  says  they  always 
broke  the  compromises  as  soon  as  they  could 
chance  to  make  money  by  doing  so.  Therefore  he 
was  sick  at  heart  of  the  word  compromise.  He 
denounces  the  North.  When  Butler  sits  down,  Web- 
ster is  seen  to  be  getting  up.  His  getting  up  not 
merely  anact;  it  is  a  processs.  He  is  enraged.  His 
magnificent  appearance  ;  intense  excitement.  Web- 
ster's opening  sentences,  '"lb-  will  find  in  me  a 
combatant  on  that  question!"  Senator  Mangum 
Baid  the  word  combatant  weighed  about  forty  tons. 
Webster's  overwhelming  presence.  Butler  attempts 
to  respond,  but  is  restrained  by  his  friends,  Calhoun 
to  the  rescue.  Turns  the  discussion  upon  constitu- 
tional points.  Webster  misses  a  greal  opportunity. 
Deluded  by  the  South,  with  the  lure  of  their  support 
of  him  for  the  Presidency  in  L852.  Makes  his  7th  <>f 
March  Bpeecb.  ts  casi  aside  by  the  South  and  their 
Northern  allies  in  '52.        Dies  in  October  of  that  year, 


CONTENTS.  31 

going  down  to  his  grave  under  a  heart-crushing  Load 

of  disappointed  ambition  and  political  despair. 

VII.  Source  of   his   political    despaib. — His 
passionate  love  of  the  Union.  His  incomparable  political 

insight  and  foresight.  He  saw  clearly  into  the  govern- 
ing principles  of  things,  and  lie  saw  clear  to  the  hot  turn. 
His  Plymouth  Rock  oration  (1820)  furnishes  ammu- 
nition for  the  anti-monopolists  of  the  present  day.  His 
remarkable  veneration.  Its  effect  upon  his  character, 
his  affections  and  his  mental  operations.  Its  effect 
upon  his  patriotism.  He  loved  the  Union  and  under- 
stood its  incomputable  importance.  He  valued  it 
above  everything  else.  Abraham  Lincoln  did  the 
same.  Extract  from  Lincoln's  reply  to  Horace  Gree- 
ley's open  letter  addressed  to  him  in  August,  1862.  No 
use  for  persons  who  do  not  understand  these  attributes 
of  Webster's  mind  to  attempt  to  sit  in  judgment  on 
his  political  course.  Events  justified  Webster.  Sew- 
ard, Chase,  and  other  alarmed  anti-slavery  statesmen 
voted  in  Congress,  in  18G1,  for  measures  that  Webster 
was  hounded  to  his  grave  for  advocating  in  1850.  His 
eloquent  prayer  that  he  might  not  see  the  curtain  of 
disunion  rise,  or  the  "gorgeous  ensign  of  the  repub- 
lic" dishonored.  These  great  men — Calhoun,  Benton 
Clay  and  Webster — deserve  our  gratitude  for  their 
Bervices  to  the  country,  and  we  can  overlook  their 
errors. — Benediction  and  Fareweu 253 


GREAT    SENATORS 

OF  FORTY  YEARS  AGO  (1848). 


CHAPTER  I. 
PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF  INTERESTING  EVENTS. 

I.  The  Second  Session  of  the  Thirtieth  Con- 
gress and  Political  Events  Preceding  it. 

The  second  session  of  the  Thirtieth  Congress 
began  on  Monday,  December  4th,  1848.  I  was 
there  as  a  reporter,  in  the  Senate,  for  the 
National  Intelligencer,  which  was  then  a  widely 
circulated  and  influential  newspaper. 

The  condition  of  political  affairs  and  the 
state  of  public  feeling  at  the  beginning  of  fche 
Congressional  session  in  1848,  excited  a  .um<><J 
deal  of  apprehension  in  the  minds  of  Leading 

[33] 


34  GREAT  SENATORS. 

statesmen.  The  Mexican  war  had  but  recently 
closed,  and  we  had  acquired  a  vast  stretch  of 
territory,  including  Arizona,  Utah,  Colorado, 
Nevada,  New  Mexico  and  California.  These 
Territories  were  to  come  into  the  Union  as 
States  ;  and  the  question  of  questions  in  thai  day 
was  whether  they  should  come  in  as  slave  Slates 
or  as  free  States;  in  other  words,  whether 
slavery  should  he  confined  within  the  limits  it 
then  occupied  or  be  extended  into  new  territory. 

It  is  impossible  to  bring  the  rancorous  bitter- 
ness which  that  question  then  excited  within 
the  comprehension  of  people  who  were  not  liv- 
ing and  old  enough  to  understand  the  genera] 
course  of  events  at  that  period. 

It  was  the  tixed  policy  of  the  South  to  keep 
the  free  States  from  outnumbering  the  slave 
States.      By  this  means,  although  in  a  minority 

in  the  I  louse  of  Representatives,  they   would 

maintain  an  equality  in  the  Senate,  and  thus  be 

enabled  to  check   legislation  hostile  to  slavery". 

"In  pursuance  of  this  policy,  Florida   and    Iowa 


WAU    WITH     MEXIl  0 

had  recently  been  admitted  into  the  Union  at 
the  same  time  (December,  1846),  by  the  provi  ions 
of  a  bill  coupling  them  together.  The  abolition 
wits  of  tiui  day  remarked  that  things  had  come 
to  such  a  pass  that  a  white  baby  could  not  now 
be  born  into  the  Union  unless  a  black  one  was 
born  at  the  same  time.  Colonel  Benton  com 
mented  on  the  contemporaneous  admission  of 
the  two  States  in  his  solemn,  sarcastic  way, 
pretending*  that  he  was  unable  to  see  why  two 
States,  one  of  which  was  the  oldest  and  the 
other  the  newest  territory  ;  one  in  the  extreme 
north-west  of  the  Union,  the  other  in  the  ex- 
treme south-east;  one  the  land  of  evergreens 
and  perpetual  flowers,  the  other  the  climate  of 
long  and  rigorous  winter,  and  with  nothing 
whatever  either  in  interest  or  history,  or  in  faci 
or  in  sentiment  to  unite  them,  should  be  cradled 
in  one  bill  and  brought  into  the  Union  together. 
As  there  was  no  more  territory  ou1  of  which 
slave  states  could  probably  be  made,  the  war 
with  Mexico  was  forced  on  for  the  purpose  of 


:;»;  GREAT    SENATOR& 

acquiring  territory  into  which  slavery  could  be 
extended.      The   territory   had  been  acquired; 

and  now  I  L848)  here  it  was,  and  the  contention 
was  whether  it  should  be  handed  over  to 
slavery  or  secured  to  freedom. 

In  L846,  while  the  war  with  Mexico  was 
raging,  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the  Hon-  of 
Representatives  appropriating  two  million  dol- 
lars to  defray  the  expenses  of  negotiating  a 
peace.  The  amount  of  the  appropriation  was 
subsequently  increased  a  million  dollars,  and 
the  measure  became  known  as  the  three-million 
hill.  While  this  hill  was  pending  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  David  Wilmot,  a  Democratic 
Representative  from  Pennsylvania,  moved  to 
amend  it  by  adding  a  provision  thai  slavery 
should  not  be  introduced  into  any  of  the  terri- 
tory thai  should  be  acquired  from  Mexico. 

Thai  little  amendment  at  once  became 
famous  as  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  It  occasioned 
a  prodigious  excitement  in  Congress,  which 
rapidly   spread    throughout    the    country.      It 


THE    WILMOT    PROVISO.  ;;; 

greatly  embittered  and  exasperated  the  South, 
as  well  it  might,  for  it  struck  ;ii  the  \rery  life  of 
slavery,  inasmuch   as  to  limil   slavery   was  to 

strangle  it.  Besides,  the  adoption  of  such  a 
proviso  would  defeat  the  main  purpose  for 
which  the  war  with  Mexico  had  been  begun  and 
was  heing  carried  on.  Hence,  this  fundamental 
proviso  was  the  reddest  rag  that  could  have 
been  waved  in  the  face  of  the  Southern  bull, 
and  that  brave,  belligerent  creature  responded 
to  the  tantalizing  provocation  with  character- 
istic alacrity  and  resolution. 

After  an  impassioned  and  prolonged  debate, 
the  proviso  was  carried  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives (1846),  but  it  was  defeated  in  tin- 
Senate.  The  next  year  (1847)  it  was  defeated 
in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  after  a  desperate 
struggle.  But  although  it  was  killed  in  Con- 
gress, it  survived  in  the  country.  It  was 
acrimoniously  discussed  and  wrangled  over  in 
nearly  every  newspaper,  in  every  school  district, 
at  every  pojitica]    meeting  and  every   fireside, 


38  GREAT    SENATORS. 

In  fact,  it  may  be  said  that  the  contesi  pro- 
voked by  it  was  not  ended  until  Robert  E.  Lee 
surrendered  to  Ulysses  S.  Grant  at  Apponiatox 
Court  House,  on  April  9th,  1865,  nineteen  years 
after  David  Wilmoi  offered  Ins  little  amend- 
ment to  the  three-million  bill,  in  the  Bouse  of 
Representatives. 

The  Wilmot  Proviso  came  up  in  1 1 1 *  - 
national  conventions  of  1848.  In  May  of  that 
year,  the  Democratic  Convention,  al  Baltimore, 
which  nominated  General  Cass  for  the  Presi- 
dency, trampled  on.  the  Proviso  (which  was 
introduced  by  Preston  King,  of  New  York),  and 
thereby  offended  many  of  the  Northern,  Eas1 
era  and  Western  delegates.  In  the  WTiig  Con- 
tention, which  met  at  Philadelphia,  in  June, 
a  strong  efforl  was  made  by  the  anti-slavery 
section  of  the  party  to  uominate  ETenry  (May, 
who  was  in  favor  of  the  Proviso,  although  he 
was  a  Southerner  and  a  slaveholder.  Bui  the 
friends  of  Clay  were  defeated.  How  and  why 
they  were  defeated  they  did  not  know,  and  it  is 


PLOTTING    AGAINST    CLAY.  :;■.• 

probable  thai  the  majority  of  them  never  knew. 
I  was  the  official  reporter  of  the  Convention, 
knew  several  of  the  delegates  intimately,  and 
was  frequently  in  the  Committee  rooms  when 
the  wires  were  in  process  of  adjustment.  A 
number  of  the  delegates  who  were  drawn  into 
the  movement  against  Clay  had  rooms  at  the 
Butler  House,  where  I  was  then  hoarding,  and 
we  had  repeated  talks  about  the  game  that  was 
going  on.  Hence  the  secret  of  Clay's  defeat, 
and  the  means  by  which  it  was  accomplished, 
became  well  known  to  me. 

I  vividly  remember  the  astonishment  with 
which  1  heard  the  supposed  friends  of  Henry 
Clay  talk  about  setting  him  aside  because  they 
had  nothing  to  gain  from  his  election.  "  His 
political  affiliations  have  long  been  fixed,"  was 
the  common  remark  ;  "he  is  surrounded  by 
friends  of  a  lifetime,  and  we  young  men  have 
nothing  to  hope  from  him."  1  was  young, 
knew  hut  little  of  politicians,  and  was  so 
Unfamiliar   with   their  ways   that   I   supp 


40  GREAT    SENATORS. 

men  were  Dominated  for  the  Presidency  and 
elected  to  the  Presidency  on  purely  patriotic 
principles,  and  that  the  only  motive  by  which 
public  men  were  actuated  was  a  good,  old-fash- 
ioned love  of  country. 

It  is,  perhaps,  needless  to  say  thai  when  I 
emerged  from  the  seething  turmoil  and  trickery 
of  the  Convention,  my  views  of  public  men  and 
their  motives  had  undergone  a  change.  I  then 
forthe  first  time  realized  the  truth  of  what  I 
had  been  taught  by  the  Greek  historian,  thai 
under  the  insl  igation  of  selfishness  and  the  con- 
mi  it  ions  of  rivalry,  men  identify  what  is 
advantageous  with  what  is  honorable,  and 
wli.ii  is  expedient  with  what  is  just,  and  while 
simulating  sentiments  of  friendship,  maintain 
;m  attitude  of  perfidious  antagonism  ;  thai  the 
love  of  power,  originating  in  avarice  and  ambi- 
tion, and  the  party  spirit  which  is  engendered 
by  them  when  men  are  fairly  embarked  in  a 
contest,  render  the  tie  of  party  stronger  than  the 
tie  of  patriotism  or  of  religion  ;  the  <<'-,\]  of  good 


PLOTTING     A.GAINST    <  \.\\  \  \ 

faith  being  not  love  of  country,  or  the  divine 
law,  lmi  fellowship  in  schemes  of  spoliation 
and  self-aggrandisement. 

ii.  the  movement  that  led  to  the  defeat  of 

Henry  Clay. 

The  movement  which  led  to  Clay's  defeat 
was  manipulated  by  four  men,  namely  :  William 
H.  Seward  and  Thurlow  Weed,  of  New  York  ; 
Thomas  Butler  King,  of  Georgia  ;  and  Truman 
Smith,  of  Connecticut.  There  were  many 
others  in  the  game,  but  those  four  men  did 
most  of  the  subterranean  work  ;  Thurlow  Weed 
being  both  engineer  and  conductor  of  the  under- 
ground political  railroad.  The  motives  which 
inspired  Mr.  Weed  grew  out  of  the  political 
situation  which,  from  a  Whig  stateman's  point 
of  view,  was  exceedingly  critical. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  annexation  of 
Texas  and  the  Mexican  war  were  brought  about 
by  the  Democrats,  under  Southern  lead,  t<> 
strengthen    their  party   by    the   extension    of 


}L>  GREAT    BBNATOR& 

slavery,  and  ensure  to  it  a  perpetuity  of  political 
power.  But,  singularly  enough,  the  result  of 
the  Mexican  war  had  unexpectedly  helped  to 
rehabilitate  the  demoralized  Whig  parly,  because 
both  of  the  great,  victorious  generals,  Scotl  and 
Taylor,  were  Whigs.  Both  of  these  generals 
were  talked  of  as  candidates  for  the  President  \ , 
and  both  were  popular  with  the  people. 

Taylor  was  universally  popular  as  a  hero, 
and  a  movement  in  favor  of  his  nomination  to 
the  Presidency  was  started  among  the  people 
several  months  before  the  meeting  of  the  Whig 
National  Convention.  Tins  movement  did  not 
seem  to  be  favored  by  the  politicians.  The 
Whig  party  had  become  largely  anti-slavery  in 
the  North,  and  General  Taylor  was  a  slaveholder 
from  the  far  South  from  Louisiana,  one  of  the 
bitterest  of  the  slave  States.  The  situation  was 
so  critical,  and  there  was  so  slighl  a  margin  oi 
success,  that  a  majority  of  the  party  leaders 
I'll  that  they  could  not  afford  to  lake  any  risk 
whatever.     Therefore  the  betting  was  in  favor 


A    DEEP    GAME  |:; 

of  Henry  ('lav's  getting  the  nomination,  until 
the  Democrats  nominated  General  Cass.     Then 

William  II.  Seward  and  Thurlow  Weed  saw 
their  opportunity,  if  fortune  would  only  favor 
them. 

In  order  to  understand  the  situation  and 
comprehend  why  Seward  and  Wood  saw  their 
opportunity  in  the  nomination  of  General  Cass 
by  the  Democrats,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  Democratic  party  of  the  North,  as  well 
as  the  Whig  party  of  that  section,  had  become 
leavened  with  anti-slavery  sentiments.  It  must 
also  be  remembered  that  there  was  a  hitter  feud 
in  the  State  of  New  York  between  the  two 
sections  of  the  Democratic  party— the  Barn 
burners  and  the  Old  Hunkers.  The  Barnburn- 
ers were  largely  anti-slavery  ;  the  Old  Hunkers 
were  bitterly  pro-slavery.  Seward  and  Weed 
foresaw  that  in  any  evenl  there  would  be  a 
third  party  in  the  field  in  L848,  composed  of  out 
and  out  abolitionists  and  pronounced  'Free- 
soilers,"  as  the  opponents  of  the  extension  oi 


44  GREAT    SENATORS. 

slavery  into  new  territory  were  called.  John 
P.  Hale,  the  Free-soil  Senator  from  New 
Hampshire,  had  already  been  suggested  as  the 
Presidential  candidate  of  this  third  party— had, 
in  fact,  been  nominated  the  year  before  (1847) 
by  a  convention  held  ai  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Seward  and  Weed  knew  there  was  great 
danger  that,  if  the  third-party  movemenl  were 
It-It  to  shape  itself  and  come  into  the  field  with 
John  P.  Hale  as  its  leader,  enough  Whigs  would 
be  drawn  off  by  it  in  New  England,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  to  give  the  election  to 
the  Democrats.  They  remembered  that  only 
four  years  before,  the  Liberty  Party  delect  ion 
in  New  York,  whose  vote  was  cast  mainly  by 
anti-slavery  Whigs,  bad  given  the  Empire  State 
to  Polk  and  made  him  President  of  the  Dnited 
States.  It  was  as  clear  as  day  to  the  two  saga- 
cious Whig  leaders  that  the  only  chance  for  the 
Whigs  to  win  the  Presidential  election  of  L848 
was  to  give  this  inevitable  third-party  move- 
menl   a    I  >emocra1  ic   lead,    and    a     I  democrat  ic 


GENERAL    CASS.  |;, 

leader,  so  as,  if  possible,  fco  draw  off  as  many 
Democrats  as  Whigs  from  the  regular  tickets. 

If  that  could  be  done,  then  New  England,  New 
York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  would  be  almosl 
certain  to  give  Whig  majorities  and  render  the 

election  of  the  Whig  candidate  sure.  And  now 
the  nomination  of  General  Cass  by  the  Demo- 
crats promised  to  give  Seward  and  Wood  their 
opportunity  to  turn  the  third-party  movement 
into  a  vast  Democratic  rebellion  and  bolt. 

General  Cass  was  a  dull,  phlegmatic,  lym 
pliatic,  lazy  man.  He  had  an  unusually  large 
brain,  hut  it  was  so  torpid  that  nothing  bul  a 
powerful  appeal  to  his  selfishness  or  his  vanity 
could  arouse  it  into  action  ;  and  when  it  was 
aroused  its  activity  was  spasmodic  and  could 
not  be  counted  upon  for  sustained  energy. 
There  was  not  a  bit  of  chivalry  in  Cass's  charac- 
ter, nor  an  atom  of  magnetism  in  his  nature. 
Such  a  man,  of  course,  could  not  fail  to  be 
destitute  of  the  elements  of  leadership,  and  to 
be  incapable  of  inspiring  that  personal  popular- 


4:6  GREAT    SENATORS. 

ity  which  counts  for  so  much  in  great  political 
contests. 

The  Democrats  nominated  Cass  as  a  forlorn 
hope,  and  under  an  irresistible  pressure  of  cir- 
cumstances. All  through  the  Mexican  war 
they  had  sought  to  develop  a  Democratic  hero 
whose  popularity  could  vie  with  that  of  the 
victorious  Whig  generals.  But  their  efforts 
had  been  vain  ;  no  Democratic  hero  was 
evoked  ;  and  the  party  at  last  fell  hack  in 
mingled  despair  and  hope  on  General  Cass,  who 
enjoyed  a  nebulous  sort  of  military  fame  that 
hung  dimly  on  the  fast  receding  horizon  of  the 
war  of  1812. 

Cass's  lack  of  personal  popularity  was  not 
the  only  weight  he  had  to  cany.  Although  lie 
did  not  possess  qualities  which  win  enthusiastic 
friends,  he  had  those  which  sometimes  make 
bitter  enemies.  Unfortunately  for  him,  in 
L844,  he  confederated  with  Martin  Van  Buren's 
enemies  to  prevenl  "  New  York's  favorite  son," 
;is   Van    Buren   was  called,   from  getting  the 


BARNBURNERS    OLD    HUNKERS.  }; 

Democratic  nomination    for    the    Presidency. 

Van  Buren  and  his  friends  looked  upon  Cass's 
conduct  as  unpardonably  treacherous,  and 
naturally  wished  to  resent  it  in  an  effectual 
manner. 

Van  Buren 's  strength  was  greatest  in  the 
States  pervaded  by  the  anti  slavery  disaffec- 
tion. The  Barnburners  of  New  York  were  his 
partisans  almost  to  a  man,  and  his  son  John 
(Prince  John)  was  their  pet  orator.  If  by  any 
means  Martin  Van  Buren  could  be  induced  to 
accept  the  leadership  of  the  third  party,  the 
defeat  of  Cass  and  the  election  of  the  Whig 
candidate  would  be  assured.  Thurlow  Weed 
was  all  the  more  confident  that  this  would  be 
the  result,  because  he  had  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  envenomed  exasperation  which  the 
friends  of  Silas  Wright  cherished  against  the 
supporters  of  General  Cass.  Silas  Wright,  one 
of  the  ablest  men  of  his  time,  and  one  of  the 
most  popular  men  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
had  been  a  sort  of  political  Siamese  twin  with 


Is  GREAT    SENATORS 

Martin  Van  Buren,  and  it  was  believed  by  his 
friends  that  he  had  been  politically  assassinated 
by  the  Old  Bunkers.  His  recent  death— he 
died  in  August,  1S47 — added  intensity  to  the 
hatred  which  his  multitude  of  mourners  felt 
for  bis  alleged  political  assassins,  and  if  Van 
Buren  could  be  brought  into  the  field,  all  this 
bat  red  could  be  turned  against  (ass. 

But  Seward  and  Weed  knew  if  (and  this 
was  a  most  momentous  if) — if  Henry  Clay 
should  be  the  Whig  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency, that  Van  Buren  would  not  come  forward 
as  the  leader  of  the  third  party.  Much  as  bo 
wished  for  vengeance  on  Cass,  he  would  not 
gratify  bis  thirst  for  it  by  making  Henry  Clay, 
so  long  the  enemy  of  Genera]  Jackson,  Presi- 
dent of  ill-'  United  States.  It  was  their  pro- 
found conviction  of  this  fact,  and  their  belief 
thai  by  proper  management  Van  Buren  could 
be  Drought  to  the  front,  which  induced  Seward 
and    Weed    to   enter    with   all   their  skill    and 


GENERAL    TAYLOR.  •!:» 

strength  into  a    plan    for  defeating  Clay   and 
nominating  Taylor. 

The  disaffected  Democrats  had  no  ill-feeling 
towards  General  Taylor.     They  had   hurrahed 

over  his  victories,  and  helped  to  celebrate  his 
glory  with  as  much  enthusiasm  as  the  Whigs 
had  shown  in  the  same  cause.  General  Taylor 
had  never  crossed  any  politician's  path,  had 
never  been  a  political  partisan,  had,  iu  fact, 
never  voted  at  a  Presidential  election.  He  and 
General  Jackson  had  been  friends;  and  so 
Jackson's  bosom  friend.  Van  Buren,  felt 
kindly  towards  him,  and  would  much  rather 
see  him  than  Cass  in  the  Presidential  chair. 
Seward  and  Weed  did  not  shut  their  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  the  nomination  of  General  Taylor 
would  alienate  many  anti-slavery  Whigs  ;  but 
they  knew  thai  it  the  coming  anti-slavery  holt, 
which  they  saw  to  be  inevitable,  could  lie  made 
mainly  a  Democratic  bolt,  the  loss  sustained  by 
the  desertion  of  Whigs  would  be  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  the  accession  of   Democrats 


50  GREAT    SEN  A  To  IiS. 

to  the  bolters,  ('specially  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  by  whose  vote  the  election  would  proba- 
bly be  decided. 

III.  Thurlow     Weed    The    secret    of    his 

POLITICAL    POWER. 

General  Cass  was  nominated  at  Baltimore, 
on  Thursday,  May  25th.  The  Whig  conven 
tiou  was  to  assemble  at  Philadelphia  on 
Wednesday,  June  7th.  So  there  was  an  inter- 
vening fortnight  for  Thurlow  Weed  and  his 
eo  ad  juteis  to  utilize  the  nomination  of  Cass  for 
the  purpose  of  securing  the  nomination  of  Tay- 
lor. And  here  it  is  expedient  to  say  a  few 
words  about  Thurlow  Weed,  in  order  that  the 
secret  of  his  political  power  may  he  understood. 

Many  of  Weed's  contemporaries  believed 
him  to  be  unscrupulous  ;  they  all  acknowledged 
bis  ability.  He  was  a  man  of  such  untiring 
industry,  and  such  invincible  pertinacity,  thai 
no  political  trail  could  be  l<>ng  enough  to  tire 
him   out,   in, i    could    his   almost    preternatural 


THURLOW    WEED.  5] 

sagacity  be  tin-own  off  fche  scent,  however  intri- 
cate  the  trail  might  be.     And  this  man   con 
trolled  the  Albany  Evening  Journal,  which  was 
one  of  the  most  powerful  newspapers  then  pub- 
lished in  the  Slate  of  New  York. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  events  we 
are  narrating  occurred  in  1848,  before  the  New 
York  city  press  had  attained  its  vast  circulation 
and  predominant  influence.  At  that  time,  the 
New  York  Sun,  although  it  had  the  largest  cir- 
culation of  any  daily  paper  in  the  city,  was  a 
comparatively  uninfluential  journal,  chiefly 
devoted  to  advertisements.  The  Herald  then 
had  but  a  little  over  10,000  circulation  ;  the  Tri- 
bune had  less  than  8,000  ;  not  one  of  the  other 
daily  papers  had  a  circulation  of  5,000,  and  the 
Times  and  the  World  were  yet  unborn.  The 
Hudson  River  railroad  was  not  then  built  ;  tin- 
New  York  and  Xew  Haven  railroad  was  not 
then  built  ;  the  Erie  road  was  not  vet  built  ; 
many  other  railroads,  now  in  connection  with 
New    York,    had    not    then    been     projected. 


GREAT    SENATORS. 

I  [ence,  duiing  all  that  portion  of  l lie  year  when 
the  navigation  of  the  Hudson  River  was  closed 
hy  ice,  New  York  was  cut  off  from  communica- 
tion, excepi  by  slaps  with  the  rest  of  the 
State. 

Albany,  from  its  more  central  location,  thus 
had  a  great  advantage  over  New  Fork  in  its 
communication  with  the  State  at  large,  espec- 
ially as  there  was  a  continuous  line  of  railroads 
(since  consolidated  into  the  New  York  Central) 
running  from  the  capital  to  Buffalo.  And  the 
Albany  Evening  Journal  was  an  older  paper 
than  the  Sun,  the  Herald,  or  the  Tribune,  \\ 
having  been  established  in  1830,  the  Sun  in 
L833,  the  Herald  in  L835,  and  the  Tribune  in 
L841.  Besides,  the  Albany  Evening  Journal 
was  the  State  organ  of  the  Whig  party,  and 
there  was  probably  not  a  township  in  the  State 
in  which  it  hadn't  a  club  of  subscribers.  From 
these  fads  it  can  readily  be  seen  thai  the  Even- 
ing Journal  was  a  political  power  m  those  pro- 


ALBANY  EVENING  JOURNAL 

vincial  days.  And  Thurlow  Weed  knew  how- 
to  use  this  power  to  the  greatesl  advantage. 

Perhaps  some  of  the  readers  of  these  pages 
may  remember  that  column  in  the  Albany 
Joitmcd,  in  which  Weed  used  to  make  personal 
mention  of  his  friends  and  his  foes,  in  little 
paragraphs,  varying  from  a  line  and  a  half 
to  a  dozen  or  fifteen  lines  in  length.  That 
column  was  a  prodigious  power  in  the  politics 
of  the  State  of  New  York.  There  was  seldom 
a  young  man,  in  any  part  of  the  State,  who 
gave  promise  of  becoming  a  person  of  influence, 
that  was  not  kindly  and  flatteringly  mentioned 
in  that  column,  no  matter  to  what  party  lie 
belonged.  And  does  any  one  suppose  thai 
young  men  thus  mentioned  would  not  feel 
friendly  to  Thurlow  Weed,  and  be  ready  1"  <!<> 
him  a  personal  favor  ? 

Let  us  suppose  that  young  Frog,  of  Prog 
Hollow,  has  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 
begun  to  show  talents  for  political  leadership. 
He  is  a  Democrat,  and  does  not  patronize  the 


54  GREAT    SENATORS. 

Albany  Evening  Journal^  but  takes  its  Demo- 
cratic rival,  the  Albany  Argus.  Some  morning 
bis  friends  ask  him  if  he  has  seen  the  last 
number  of  the  Albany  Journal.  He  sneeringly 
replies  that  he  has  not  seen  it ;  that  he  does  not 
wish  to  see  it  ;  that  he  does  not  train  with  that 
crowd.  His  friends  tell  him  that  he  had  better 
see  it,  because  it  has  something  about  hims<  1 £ 
in  it.  He  calls  on  sonic  Whig  who  takes  the 
Journal,  obtains  a  copy  of  the  paper,  and  reads 
a  paragraph  somewhat  like  this  : 

"We  learn  from  friends  in  Frog  Hollow 
thai  there  is  a  young  man  coming  forward  in 
thai  part  of  the  State  of  whom  his  fellow-citi- 
zens have  just  reason  to  be  proud.  We  refer  to 
Augustus  Frog,  Esq.,  the  rising  young  lawyer. 
We  knew  Mr.  Frog's  grandfather  when  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Legislature  more  than  twenty 
years  ago,  and  we  had  such  a  high  personal 
ml  tor  him  as  t<»  make  us  regrel  thai  he 
was  on  the  wrong  side  in   politics." 

I  > 1 1  reading  this  paragraph,  Augustus  Frog, 


THURLOW    WEED'S    FRIENDS. 

Esq.,  the  rising  young  lawyer,  feels  like  playing 
a  game  of  leapfrog.  He  borrows  the  Journal 
and  rushes  off  with  it  to  his  sweetheart,  to  his 
parents,  to  his  grandfather.  The  old  grand- 
father's eyes  sparkle  as  he  roads  the  paragraph, 
and  he  says  :  '•  Yes,  I  know  Weed  when  I  was 
in  the  Legislature,  and  a  right  good  fellow  lie 
was  ;  and  smart,  too,  now  I  tell  you.  I  hope 
you  will  go  there  some  day,  Augustus,  and  if 
you  do,  I'll  give  you  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
Weed.  He's  the  best  man  in  Albany  for  a 
young  fellow  to  know. " 

In  a  few  years  Augustus  Frog  is  elected  to 
the  Assembly  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  His 
grandfather  gives  him  the  letter  of  introduction 
to  Weed,  and  on  its  presentation  he  is  received 
with  paternal  kindness  and  made  to  feel  as 
much  at  home  as  though  he  were  in  his  grand 
father's  office.  It  is  plain  to  be  seen  what  the 
result  of  this  will  be.  Mr.  Weed's  kindness, 
shown  at  a  time  when  the  young  man  feels  the 


56  GREAT    SENATORS. 

need  of  a  friend,  sinks  into  the  depths  of  his 
heart  and  brings  forth  fruit  abundantly. 

When  one  multiplies  this  young  Democratic 
Fn>--  by  scores  and  by  hundreds,  and  adds  all 
the  Whig  Frogs  that  had  been  hopping  through 
the  Legislature  for  eighteen  years,  he  can  form 
some  idea  of  the  number  of  influential  friends 
that  Thurlow  Weed  had  in  every  part  of  the 
state  in  both  of  the  great  political  parties. 
And.  of  course,  Weed  had  the  sagacity  to  use  the 
tremendous  power  which  this  widely  extended 
circle  of  personal  friends  gave  him,  in  the  most 
adroit  and  inoffensive  manner.  By  dropping  a 
few  remarks  here  and  a  few  remarks  there  in 
conversation,  or  by  correspondence,  in  which 
his  real  purpose  was  concealed,  lie  could  set  the 
minds  of  either  Whigs  or  Democrats  running 
in  the  way  lie  wanted  them  to  go,  without 
exciting  the  least  suspicion  that  lie  had  any 
ulterior  design  in  wh.it  lie  said  or  wrote.  Or, 
if  he  chose  fco  come  out  frankly  with  persons 
whom     he     wished     1o    enlist     directly    in    his 


WILLIAM     11.     SLWAUD  ;,; 

schemes,   he    seldom,    if    ever,    addressed    his 
appeals  for  help  to  inhospitable  cars. 

During  the  period  which  elapsed  between 
the  nomination  of  General  Cass  at  Baltimore 
and  the  assembling  of  the  Whig  National  Con- 
vention at  Philadelphia,  Weed  was  busily 
engaged  in  sympathizing  with  the  enraged 
Barnburners,  and  without  seeming  to  meddle 
in  their  party  affairs  he  helped  to  inflame  their 
animosity  against  Cass  to  an  irrestrainable 
degree.  Seward  was  also  skillfully  at  work  in 
the  same  missionary  line. 

IT.  William  H.  Seward — How  He  and  Weed 
Worked  Together. 
William  H.  Seward  was  one  of  the  ablest 
and  most  sagacious  men  of  his  time.  His 
inferior  physique  and  his  incapacity  for  oratory 
prevented  the  people  from  perceiving  the  true 
measure  of  his  intellectual  greatness.  If  he 
had  bad  the  personal  presence  and  the  voice 
and  delivery  of  Calhoun,  Clay  or  Webster,  he 


58  GREAT    SENATORS. 

would  have  rivalled  them  in  oratorical  power 
and  impressed  himself  upon  the  minds  and  the 
imaginations  of  his  countrymen  as  forcibly  as 
t  hey  did.  But  owing  to  his  physical  deficiencies 
his  greai  abilities  were  known  only  to  those 
who  learned  them  by  studying  his  writings  or 
from  personal  intercourse  With  him. 

In  matters  of  political  management  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  Seward's  sagacity  was 
unerring  and  his  judgment  well  nigh  infallible. 
He  knew  all  the  influential  men  in  the  State  ; 
he  also  knew  the  local  leaders,  and  cultivated 
their  friendship.  He  was  particularly  gracious 
to  young  men,  and  easily  won  their  affection 
and  their  confidence.  He  did  not  neglect  men 
of  influence,  whatever  their  age  ;  but  he  was 
more  attentive  to  the  young  than  to  the  old, 
fully  realizing  that  the  old  are  constantly  pass- 
ing off  the  stage,  while  the  young  are  perpet- 
ually coming  on. 

Seward  had  n  keen  perception  of  the  political 
advantage  which  could   be  gained  by   utilizing 


WILLIAM    II.     SEWARD.  5<J 

religious  beliefs  and  prejudices;  and  by  the 
adroit  use  of  a  felicitous  phrase,  embodying  a 
pivotal  and  aggressive  truth,  And  which  could 
be  used  as  a  rhetorical  hattle  cry,  he  could  draw 
large  bodies  of  religionists  and  reformers  into 
sympathy  with  his  schemes  without  letting  it 
l»e  known  what  his  ulterior  motives  or  projects 
were.  In  this  subtle  and  far-reaching  work 
Seward  was  unrivalled.  He  knew  just  when 
the  fruit  was  ripe  for  his  hand  to  pluck.  No 
eagle  ever  poised  over  its  prey  with  keener  eye, 
or  swooped  upon  its  quarry  with  surer  stroke. 
In  these  respects  his  sagacity  and  executive 
spontaneity  approached  the  superhuman.  It  is 
doubtful  if  there  ever  was  a  man  who  had  more 
aptitude  than  Seward  possessed  for  saying  just 
exactly  the  right  thing  in  just  exactly  the  right 
way  at  just  exactly  the  right  time  and  under 
just  exactly  the  right  circumstances. 

Seward's  social  qualities  were  a  source  of 
strength  to  him.  He  was  attached  to  his  friends 
and  stood  by  them,  and  they  were  attached  1<> 


GO  GREAT    SENATORS 

and  stood  by  him  in  return.  He  was  eloquent 
and  masterful  in  conversation  and  in  intimate 
confidential  coi*espondence,  and  could  probably 
do  more  work  in  twenty-four  hours  and  keep  at 
his  work  more  continuously  than  any  other  man 
of  his  day,  except  Horace  Greeley.  Such  capac- 
ity for  work  as  he  had,  when  directed  by  such 
sagacity  as  he  possessed,  is  apt  to  make  its  way 
against  any  degree  of  talent  or  genius  which  is 
unsupported  by  plodding  industry  and  assid- 
uous application. 

Seward  and  Weed  understood  each  other 
intimately,  and  worked  together  in  perfect 
accord.  What  two  such  men  could  accomplish 
in  a  field  which  furnished  them  with  lines  of 
operation  exactly  fitted  to  their  powers,  and 
surrounded  by  circumstances  in  which  they 
both  delighted  to  put  their  powers  forth,  can- 
not be  told;  and  it  would  be  rash  to  limit 
their  achievements  by  ordinary  standards  of 
measurement.  In  the  political  contesl  of  L848, 
they  knew  just  exactly  whal  they  must  accom- 


BARNBURNER    MEETING.  »;i 

plish  in  order  to  win,  and  they  pursued  their 
course  with  clear  vision,  fixed  purpose  and 
unfaltering  steps.  They  subtly  and  success- 
fully drew  their  lines  through  and  around  the 
disaffected  political  elements  in  the  State,  and 
especially  in  the  City  of  New  York.  They  had 
the  hearty  co-operation  of  several  of  the  leading 
Barnburners,  who  were  so  determined  to  wreak 
vengeance  on  General  Cass  and  the  Old  Hunk- 
ers that  they  gladly  availed  themselves  of  any 
means  which  promised  to  gratify  their  desires. 

It  was  arranged  to  hold  a  public  meeting  of 
Barnburners,  in  the  City  Hall  Park,  to  express 
their  indignation  at  the  manner  in  which  their 
delegates  Jiad  been  treated  at  the  Baltimore 
Convention.  The  day  on  which  this  meeting 
should  be  held  was  of  great  importance  to 
Seward  and  Weed,  and  with  the  aid  of  their 
Barnburner  friends  that  matter  was  easily 
arranged.  The  meeting  was  called  for  the 
afternoon  of  June  6th,  the  day  before  the  Whig 
Convention  was   to  assemble   in  Philadelphia. 


GREAT    SENATORS. 

On  the  forenoon  of  that  day  there  was  a  meet- 
ing at  the  A  stor  Eouse  of  Whig  delegates  from 
New  England,  New  York,  and  the  Western 
States.  This  meeting  had  been  broughl  about 
in  a  seemingly  accidental  way  by  Weed.  He 
had  been  in  correspondence  with  such  delegates 
as  he  thought  it  prudent  to  manipulate,  and 
suggested  to  them  individually  that  if  they 
would  stop  over  a  day  in  New  York,  on  their 
way  to  Philadelphia,  "it  would  be  advantage- 
ous to  the  interests  of  the  party."  Weed's  cor- 
respondents told  their  colleagues  thai  they  were 
going  to  stop  over  a  day  in  New  5Tork  :  the  col 
Leagues,  of  course,  wanted  to  stop  over  with 
i  hem  :  and  the  result  was  that  t  he  A.stor  House 
meeting  was  largely  attended.  Bui  little  was 
done  at  this  meeting,  its  objed  being,  as  Weed 
said,  "t<>  have  a  friendly  interchange  of  views, 
with  an  eye  to  promoting  harmony  in  the  con- 
vention and  securing  the  ultimate  success  of  the 
party."  I'.ut  for  unsuspecting  delegates  to 
"interchange  views"with  Thurlow    Weed,  on 


BARNBURNER     MEETING.  »;:; 

such  an  occasion,  was  pretty  sure  fco  end  in  a 
change  of  views  on  the  part  of  the  unsuspect- 
ing delegates. 

The  chic!'  object  in  having  the  delegates  stop 
over  in  New  York  on  that  day,  was  that  they 
might  witness  the  Barnburner  meeting  in  the 
afternoon.  That  meeting  was  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  enthusiastic  that  had  ever  been  held 
in  the  city.  The  names  of  the  committee  of 
Barnburner  delegates  to  the  Baltimore  conven- 
tion, who  made  the  delegates'  reportto  the  meet- 
ing, will  he  read  with  interest.  They  were 
names  which,  in  those  clays,  were  always  re- 
ceived with  hurrahs  in  Democratic  meetings. 
They  were  Churchill  C.  Cambreling,  John  A 
Kennedy,  Robert  H.  Maclay,  William  F.  Have- 
meyerand  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  The  reporl  of  the 
committee  was  outspoken  and  inflammatory. 
It  told  the  vast  multitude  of  exasperated  Barn- 
burners that  their  delegates  to  the  Baltimore 
convention  had  been  insulted  and  disfranchised. 
and  it  called  upon  the  people  to  rebuke  the  per 


04  GREAT    SENATORS. 

pretrators  of  such  outrages.  The  report  was 
adopted  by  acclamation,  and  with  yells  of 
approbation.  Then  David  Dudley  Field  rend  mi 
address  which  had  been  carefully  prepared  for 
tli"  occasion.     The  address  was  entitled  : 

To  the  Democratic  Republican  Electors  of 
the  City  and  County  of  New  Fork, 

and  its  opening  paragraphs  were  as  follows  : 

"The  freedom  and  equality  of  man  are  the 
foundations  of  republican  government.  The 
faction  which  strikes  at  tin  m3  strikes  a1  the  ex- 
istence of  our  institutions.  It  must  be  over- 
thrown, or  they  will  perish. 

"Such  a  faction  exists  among  us.it  this 
moment.  Its  object  is  the  extension  and  per 
petuation  of  human  servitude.  It  is  bold,  un- 
scrupulous aud  active;  it  wields  to  a  great 
extent  the  patronage  ot  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment ;  it  thus  addresses  itself  to  the  fears  of 
some  and  the  cupidity  of  other--  ;  and  it  has  by 
means  got   possession  of  the  nominating 


BARNBURNER     MEETING.  r,;, 

convention  and  proclaimed  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency. 

"  To  this  faction  we  will  never  submit.     We 

will   never  cease  to  resist  it  till  it  is  effectually 


defeated.' 


From  these  opening  sentences  of  Hie  address, 
it  ean  be  imagined  what  the  body  of  it  was.  It 
was  profoundly  able,  and  adroitly  played  upon 
the  self  love,  the  vanity  and  the  indignation  of 
the  Barnburners.  It  was  received  with  intense 
enthusiasm  by  the  excited  multitude  that  lis- 
fcened  to  it.  The  meeting  had  a  prodigious  effect 
in  the  city  and  throughout  the  state.  It  gave 
an  impulse  to  the  Barnburner  movement  which 
rendered  a  bolt  against  Cass  inevitable.  After 
the  meeting  adjourned,  crowds  of  excited  people 
lingered  in  the  City  Hall  Park  and  thronged  the 
neighboring  hotels,  saloons  and  restaurant-, 
vehemently  discussing  the  situation,  and  swear- 
ing vengeance  against  the  Old  Hunkers  and  Gen- 
eral Cass.  The  delegates  to  the  Whig  Conven- 
tion, which   was  to  meet  the  Qexl    day,  mingled 


<;i;i:.\t    SENATORS. 

with  the  crowds,  took  note  of  whal  wasoccur 
ring,  ami  were  of  course  unspeakably  anxious  to 
turn  all  this  Democratic  disaffection  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Whig  party  ;  and  WilliamH. 
Seward  and  Thurlow  Weed  devoted  themselves 
to  showing  th<i  delegates  how  their  wishes  could 
be  gratified. 

They  delicately  felt  the  opinions  of  the  dele- 
gates and  caressed  their  way  into  their  private 
predilections  and  personal  prejudices.  They 
found  thai  the  preference  for  Clay  was  in  the 
lid.uit,  tliat  General  Scott  was  the  second 
choice  of  many  delegates,  and  thai  Webster  was 
the  favorite  of  the  New  Englanders.  There  did 
not  seem  to  be  any  enthusiasm  for  General 
Taylor.  Ohio  was  strenuously  opposed  to  him, 
and  nearly  solid  for  Scott.  New  England's  firsl 
choice  was  Webster,  and  her  second  was  Clay. 
New  York  was  for  Clay,  with  a  leaning  to 
Scott.  Things  looked  unequivocally  ominous 
Coi- the  Taylor  movement.  Seward  and  Weed 
took,  and  instructed  their  lieutenants  to  take  a 


si:\\  \i;i>    AND     \\  EED 

gloomy  view  of  the  Whig  cause.  The  antici 
pated  Free-soil  bolt,  with  John  I*.  Hale  ;ii  ii- 
bead,  was  magnified  into  a  political  bugaboo. 
Hale  must-  be  headed  off,  or  the  Whigs  were 
(loomed.  If  the  Barnburners  could  only  be 
pushed  on  to  take  the  load  in  the  Free-soil  holt 
and  nominate  an  influential  Democrat—  p< a  haps 
Martin  Van  Buren — for  their  candidate,  the 
situation  would  be  radically  changed,  and  the 
success  of  the  Whig  nominee  would  be  rendered 
almost  sure.  But  the  course  of  the  Barnburners 
would  he  largely  influenced  by  the  proceedings 
of*  the  Whig  Convention.  If  it  should  put  fur- 
ward  a  candidate  win)  was  obnoxious  to  Van 
Buren  and  his  friends,  they  would  not  help 
eleel  him  by  bolting.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
Whigs  should  nominate  a  candidate  who  would 
not  be  personally  objectionable  to  Van  Buren  and 
his  friends,  the  probability  was  that  the  Barn- 
burners would  organize  an  independent  move- 
ment, with  Van  Buren  for  (heir  leader.  Should 
fchey  do  this,  the  Empii'e  Slate  would  certainly 


08  GREAT    si.n  \t<>i;s. 

be  carried  by  the  Whigs,  and  thai  would  doubt- 
give  them  a  majority  of  the  electoral  votes, 
and  ensure  the  election  of  the  Whig  candidate. 
With  sncl)  ideas  were  the  minds  of  the  Whig 
delegates  inseminated. 

V.  The  Whig  National  Convention  of  L848. 
How  Clay  was  defeated  and  Taylor 
nominated. 
The  next  morning  (June  7th)  in  Philadel- 
phia, it  was  found  that  Pennsylvania's  first 
choice  was  ('lav,  and  her  second  Taylor  ;  also, 
thai  Taylor  was  Strong  in  the  South  and  South- 
west. It  was  evident  thai  Clay's  popularity 
was  so  -Tea!  that,  if  the  managers  of  his  can- 
srass  evinced  a  high  degree  of  skill,  it  would  be 
very  difficult,  if  pol  impossible,  to  defeat  him. 
Bui  Clay  was  unfortunate  in  his  friends.  They 
were  enthusiastic  and  boastful,  and  fell  so  sure 
of  success  thai  they  neglected  the  means  of 
securing  it.  I  »n  the  other  hand,  the  Leaders  of 
the  Taylor  movement   worked   with  strenuous 


LAYING     OUT    THE     WORK. 

energy  and  surpassing  skill.  Truman  Smith 
took  charge  of  tin*  New  England  delegations. 
Thomas  Butler  King,  assisted  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  trusty  assistants,  worked  among  the 
delegates  from  the  South.  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio  were  left  in  the  hands  of  influential  citi- 
zens of  their  own,  who  best  knew  how  to  woi  k 
upon  their  delegates.  Weed  took  especial 
charge  of  the  New  York  delegation.  In  fact, 
every  delegation  was  skillfully  handled.  As 
Ohio  could  not  be  brought  into  line  lor  Taylor, 
her  delegates  were  encouraged  to  stand  by  Gen- 
eral Scott,  under  the  belief  thai  the  Convention 
would  finally  fall  back  on  him  as  a  compromise 
candidate  Delegates  from  New  York  and 
other  States,  who  felt  thai  they  were  committed 
against  Taylor,  were  induced  to  vote  for  Scott. 
New  England  men,  who  could  nol  be  won  over 
to  Taylor,  were  encouraged  to  stand  by  Web- 
Bter  to  the  last.  The  younger  delegates  from 
all  quarters  of  the  OrnoD  were  indoctrinated 
with  the   idea    (heretofore   mentioned)   thai    if 


70  GREAT    SENATORS. 

Clay  should  be  elected  President,  they  could  not 
hope  for  political  preferment,  as  he  would 
bestow  all  his  patronage  upon  his  old  friends 
with  whom  he  had  been  affiliated  for  scores  of 
years.  The  only  way  for  them  to  gain  anything 
by  the  triumph  of  the  Whig  parly  was  t<>  elect 
a  President  who  had  no  fixed  relations  with 
anybody,  so  that  everyone  would  have  an  equal 
chance.  In  this  way.  (lay's  strength  was 
insidiously  undermined,  while  his  friends  were 
singing  Clay  songs  and  hurrahing  over  his 
anticipated  triumph.  Exhilarated  by  their  <>wn 
enthusiasm,  they  saw  everything  in  the  illusive 
light  of  unreflecting  hope;  inflated  with  arro 
gant  confidence,  they  fatuously  derided  the 
monitions  of  prudence,  and  peremptorily 
rebuffed  incitations  to  vigilance. 

The  Convention  was  organized  on   Wednes 
day,  June   7th.     John   M.   Morehead,  of  North 
Carolina,   was  elected    permanent   President  of 
the  Convention.     This  was  thought  to  be  a  tii 
u.nph  for  ( 'lay.  and  tnade  his  frieuds  feel   si  ill 


CALLING     THE     ROLL.  71 

more  suit'  of  his  nomination.  The  first  day 
of  the  ConventioD  was  devoted  to  preliminary 
and  routine  work,  but  it  was  understood  that 
the  balloting  for  a  candidate  would  be  called  on 
early  on  Thursday  morning.  It  was  arranged 
t liat  in  balloting,  the  roll  of  members  should  be 
called  by  States  in  their  alphabetical  order  ;  the 
name  of  the  chairman  of:'  a  State  delegation  to 
be  called  first,  and  the  names  of  his  colleagues 
to  follow  in  alphabetical  order.  On  the  surface, 
this  appeared  to  be  a  matter  of  insignificant 
detail  ;  but  when  it  is  remembered  that,  as  there 
was  then  no  State  of  California  or  Colorado. 
Connecticut  would  come  third  on  the  list,  and 
be  the  first  Northern  State  called,  and  that 
Tinman  Smith  was  chairman  of  the  Connecti- 
cut delegation,  the  intelligent  reader  may  be 
able  to  see  that  the  manner  of  calling  the  roll 
was  by  no  means  an  insignificant  matter. 

When  the  Convention  assembled  on  Thurs- 
day morning,  in  the  great  ball  of  the  old 
Chinese  Museum,  the  friends  of  Clay  hurried  on 


72  GREAT    SENATORS. 

the   ballotiug,  feeling  sure  thai   their  favorite 
would  lead  the  poll,and  the  tnosl   sanguine  of 

them  offered  to  bet  thai  he  would  be  nominated 
on  the  first  ballot.  But  as  the  voting  went  on, 
a  great  silence  fell  on  the  vast  concourse. 
Delegates  who  had  been  counted  on  for  Clay, 
voted  for  Taylor,  and  others  voted  for  Scott. 
The  wily  Truman  Smith  voted  for  Clay,  and 
so  did  his  five  colleagues.  The  time  had  not 
come  for  him  to  show  his  hand.  But  New 
England  gave  Clay  only  16  votes,  while  she 
gave  Webster  21  and  Taylor  6.  New  York 
gave  Webster  1,  John  M.  Clayton  1,  Scott  5, 
and  Clay  29.  Pennsylvania  gave  Clay  1l\ 
Taylor  8,  Scoti  6.  All  this  was  a  surprise  to 
the  friends  of  Clay,  but  Ohio  fairly  shinned 
them.  She  <^■;»v,,  Claybul  one  vote.  She  also 
gave  Taylor  1,  and  Judge  McLean  l,  and  all 
the  resl  20  of  them  -were  given  to  Scott.  As 
these  developments  wenl  on,  cries  of  "Treach- 
ery !"  were  heard  in  different  parts  of  the  ball, 
and  the  Clay    men    hissed   some  of  the   more 


HISSING    THE    TRAITORS.  ;:; 

prominent  of  the  alleged  traitors.  Almost 
everybody  had  kept  bally,  but  the  official 
announcement  of  the  vote  was  awaited  with 
breathless  eagerness.  "Amid  a  silence  that 
could  be  heard,"  as  Haskell,  of  Tennessee,  said, 
the  secretary  read  the  result  :  Webster  22, 
Scott  43,  Clay  97,  Taylor  111.  Another  ballot 
was  called  for,  and  after  much  delay  it  was 
taken.  The  Clay  men  had  labored  with  their 
deserters,  and  hoped  for  a  better  result  on  the 
second  ballot.  But  they  were  doomed  to  disap- 
pointment ;  when  the  vote  was  announced  it 
was  found  that  Webster  had  held  his  22  votes, 
that  Scott  had  gone  up  from  l:;  to  4'.',  thai, 
Taylor  had  gone  from  111  to  118,  and  that 
Clay  had  sunk  from  i>7  to  86.  Truman  Smith 
and  his  five  colleagues  had  again  voted  for  Clay, 
and  the  staunchness  of  the  Connecticut  delega- 
tion gave  a  basis  for  hope  to  ( 'lay's  friends,  who 
now  moved  an  adjournment,  lest  Taylor  should 
he  nominate  1  on  a  third  ballot.  The  friends  of 
Webster,  and  the  Ohio  delegation  supported  the 


74  GREAT    SENATORS 

iiiotioD   to  adjourn,  and  it    was   carried,  amid 
great  excitement. 

During  the  interval,  between  the  adjourn- 
ment of  ill*'  ConventioD  and  its  reassembling 
the  oexl  morning,  the  friends  of  Clay  exhibited 
lamentable  lack  of  tact  and  judgment.  Instead 
of  trying  to  win  hack  the  deserters  by  proper 
appeals  and  arguments,  they  vehemently 
assailed  them,  and  wounded  their  self-love  by 
vituperative  denunciation.  Taylor's  friends,  on 
the  other  hand,  talked  only  of  the  controlling 
interests  of  the  Whig  party  and  the  welfare  of 
the  country.  They  didn't  care  particularly  for 
any  particular  individual.  All  they  wanted  was 
a  candidate  with  whom  they  could  win,  and 
thus  benefit  the  country  at  Large  while  promot- 
ing the  welfare  of  the  party.  At  an\  rate, 
every  delegate  had  a  right  to  Ins  own  opinion, 
and  to  vote  for  whomsoever  he  believed  to  be 
the  best  man  to  bear  the  Whig  standard  in  the 
coming  close  and  desperate  fight.     What  they 


THE    TlilltD     BALLOT. 

admired  iii  a  delegate,  above  all  other  quality    . 
was  independence  of  thought  and  tnanline     m 

action. 

Such  talk  was  deliriously  soothing  i"  the 
delegates  whom  Clay's  friends  were  anathema 
tising,  and  kept  them  securely  in  line  for 
Taylor,  for  whom  they  would  cither  vote 
directly,  or  help  indirectly  by  voting  for 
Webster  or  Scott.  It  did  more  ;  it  made  them 
partisans  againsi  Clay,  and  set  some  of  them  at 
work  to  bring  their  colleagues  into  coalescence 
with  themselves. 

When  the  Convention  met  on  Friday  morn- 
ing the  feeling  of  apprehension  and  expectation 
was  so  intense  thai  men  spoke  in  hushed  voices 
and  walked  on  tiptoe.  As  soon  as  the  prelim- 
inary routine  could  be  got  through  with,  a 
motion  was  made  that  the  Convention  proceed 
to  a  third  ballol  tor  a  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency, The  mot  ion  was  carried  b)  a  unanimous 
vote,  but  the  "aye"  was  given  in  such 
suppressed  tones  that  its  effect  was  like  thai  of 


76  GREAT    SENATORS 

the  pianissimo  of  a  grand  orchestra.  The  roll 
call  began  and  proceeded  through  the  Lists  of 
delegates  from  Alabama  and  Arkansas  in  deep 
silence.  Nexl  came  Connecticut,  which,  under 
the  lead  of  Tinman  Smith,  had  voted  solid  for 
Clay  on  the  two  previous  ballots.  Rumors  had 
circulated  during  the  morning  thai  Smith  had 
gone  over  to  Taylor,  and  now.  when  his  name 
was  aboul  to  be  called,  the  excitement,  though 
subdued,  was  intense.  Smith's  smooth-shaven, 
pink  and  white  face  rises  before  me  as  I  write, 
and  it  seems  as  though  I  could  hear  his  \<>i<  e 
I  heard  it  forty-one  years  ago.  when,  in  answer 
to  the  call  of  his  name,  he  responded  in  clear, 
penetrating  tones:  "  Zachary  Taylor."  Thai 
vote  sounded  the  knell  of  Henry  Clay.  The 
Taylor  men  had  all  got  ready  for  this  signal, 
and  when  it  was  given,  they  bursl  oul  with 
repeated  cheers  and  nearly  stampeded  the 
( invention. 

Wh en  the  result  of  the  ballol  was  announce  d, 
and   it    was   known    that    General    Taylor    had 


GREELEY     AND    WEBB.  77 

received  L33  voles  and  Henry  Clay  only  74,  a 
.-(•cue  of  the  stormiest  confusion  ensued.     So 

of  the  dele-ales  el  leered  lil^lhey  wnv  exhausted. 

Others  leaped  upon  seats  and  chairs  and  yelled 
themselves  hoarse  in  trying  to  get  a  hearing. 
Horace  Greeley,  who  was  wild  for  Clay,  and 
General  James  Watson  Webb,  who  was  equally 
wild  for  Taylor,  ran  back  and  forth  between 
the  reporters'  table  and  the  platform,  shouting 
and  gesticulating  like  madmen  ;  Webb,  with 
Ins  hat  on  the  back  of  his  bead  and  bis  coat- 
tails  flapping  in  the  breeze  which  be  occasioned, 
and  Greeley  with  the  knot  of  bis  necktie  under 
Ins  left  ear  and  the  ends  floating  over  Ins 
shoulder.  Every  one  foresaw  the  result  of  the 
nexl  ballot,  and  when  it  was  taken,  and  Gen- 
eral Taylor  was  declared  nominated—- (he  getting 
171  votes,  and  ('lav  only  32,  while  Scott's  had 
run  up  to  63)  the  excitement  was  not  increased, 
but.  bad  somewhat  diminished. 

As    soon    as    the    confusion   bad   subsided, 
delegates  all  through  the  ball  began  to  vocifer- 


78  GREAT    SENATORS. 

ate  charges  of  treachery.  The  Ohio  delegation 
was  exceedingly  hitter  and  exasperated.  It 
had  given  Taylor  and  Clay  only  one  vote  a- 
piece,  and  after  the  first  ballot  had  plumped  21 
votes  for  Scott,  every  time,  under  the  hire  that 
he  was  the  ''dark  horse'1  of  the  convention, 
who  would  eventually  win  the  race.  But  now 
they  saw  that  they  had  been  hoodwinked,  and 
were  furious  at  the  discovery.  Several  of  them 
made  violent  speeches,  and  swore,  with  uplifted 
hand,  that,  so  help  them  God,  they  would  go 
home  and  do  all  they  could  to  defeat  the  nom- 
inal ion.  Delegates  from  Maine,  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Massachusetts  did  likewise.  At  first, 
these  demonstrations  were  received  by  the 
victors  with  derisive  laughter.  But  alter  a 
while  it  became  apparent  thai  the  disaffection 
was  no  laughing  matter.  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York  delegates  began  to  join  in  the  clamors 
of  indignation.  The  Taylor  men  became 
alarmed    and    sought    to    placate    their    irate 


THE     VKTOKS    A.LARMED.  79 

opponents.       But  their  efforts  at  pacification 
were  futile. 

In  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  a  motion  was 
made  to  proceed  to  the  nomination  of  a 
candidate  lor  the  Vice-Presidency.  The  motion 
was  declared  carried,  and  delegates  were 
requested  to  name  their  candidates.  This 
brought  the  Convention  to  order.  Hurried 
consultations  were  held  by  the  Taylor  men, 
who  hoped  to  conciliate  the  disaffected  delegates 
by  giving  them  a  candidate  for  Vice-President 
who  should  be  a  man  after  their  own  hearts. 
It  had  been  arranged  that  Abbot  Lawrence,  of 
Massachusetts,  should  be  the  candidate  for 
Vice  President,  and  it  was  understood  that  if  he 
got  the  nomination  he  would  contribute  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  to  the  campaign  fund. 
But  the  impassioned  indignation  of  the  anti- 
slavery  portion  of  the  Convention  at  the  nom- 
ination of  Taylor,  so  alarmed  the  general's 
supporters,  that  they  did  not  dare  to  carry  out 
that  arrangement.     It  was  seen  that  something 


80  GREAT    SENATORS. 

wry  decided  must  be  done  to  pacificate  llif 
anti-slavery  disaffection,  or  there  would  be  a 
fatal  bolt.  Abbot  Lawrence  was  qoI  enough  of 
an  abolitionist  to  satisfy  the  disaffected  ones. 
Wbo  would  satisfy  them  \  was  now  the  ques- 
tion. Of  all  the  name-  mentioned  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  thai  of  Millard  Fillmore,  wbo  was 
an  anti-slavery  man  of  pronounced  type,  had 
must  promise  in  it.  Just  at  the  righl  moment. 
Mr.  Morril,  one  of  Fillmore's  friends  from 
western  Now  Fork,  leaped  upon  a  bench  and 
cried:  "  Give  us  Millard  Fillmore,  and  we 
promise  you  the  vote  of  New  York  !" 

This  declaration  was  received  with  cheers, 
and  Fillmore  was  nominated.  And  so  a  ticket 
was  provided  which  it  was  supposed  could  walk 
over  the  country  from  Mast  to  West,  with  its 
pro-slavery  foot  in  the  South  and  its  ant  i  slavery 
tool  in  the  North,  without  danger  thai  either 
foot  would  gel  mired.  \\w\  the  Convention 
adjourned  amidst  an  atmosphere  of  despondency 
and    gloom.      'I'he    bitterness   of  the   Clay    men 


GREELEY'S     DISAPPOINTMENT.  s| 

was  so  intense  that  they  threatened  the  ticket 
with  defeat  and  (he  hopes  of  the  Whig  party  with 
annihilation.  A  premonition  of  coming  defeat 
seemed  to  weigh  upon  the  spirits  of  the  delegates. 

In  the  evening,  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
Convention,  T  was  in  the  office  of  the  Philadel- 
phia North  American,  writing  out  my  report. 
The  Hon.  Morton  McMichael,  the  editor  of  the 
North  American  (who  was  a  gentleman  of 
much  social  influence  and  great  political 
sagacity),  was  talking  over  the  situation  with 
several  delegates  (Taylor  men)  from  the  South 
west,  when  who  should  come  tramping  into 
the  office,  carpet  bag  in  hand,  but  Horace 
Greeley.  On  seeing  who  were  present,  Greeley 
scowled  upon  them,  turned  around,  and  started 
for  the  door. 

"Where    are    you    going,   Mr.     Greeley?" 
McMichael  courteously  asked. 

"I'm  going  home,"  snarled  Greeley. 

"But  there's  no  train  to-night,"  McMichael 
suggested. 


GREAT    SENATORS. 

"I'don'1  \v;mi  any  traiu,"  Greeley  snapped 
out  ;  "  I'm  going  across  New  Jersey,  afoot  and 
alone  !"     And  away  he  went. 

As  I  withdrew  my  gaze  from  Greeley's 
retreating  form,  it  fell  upon  a  dark  young  man 
of  small  stature,  with  a  large  and  line  head, 
who  was  standing  at  the  foot  of  the  table  at 
which  I  sat,  He  had  been  watching  Greeley, 
and  his  countenance  was  convulsed  with  scorn 
and  detestation,  somewhat  relieved  bya  sinister 
gleam  of  triumph.  He  soon  left  the  office,  and 
I  said  to  McMichael.  "How  that  man  hates 
Greeley  !     Who  is  he?" 

"I  thought  you  knew  him,"  McMichael 
answered.  "  He  is  a  fellow- townsman  of  yours. 
He  is  Henry  J.  Raymond,  the  reasoning  editor 
of  ihf  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer.  Gree- 
ley will  never  forgive  him  and  Colone]  Webb 
for  the  pari  they  played  in  the  defeat  of  Clay." 
Greeley  did  not  forgive  them  ;  and  there 
were  many  things  for  which  they  didn't  forgive 


NO     ENTHUSIASM 

Greeley  ;  and  the  personal  animosities  of  thosi 
three  eminent    journalists   helped   to    kill    the 
Whig  party,  which  gave  its  last  national  gasp 
four  years  afterwards,  in  1852. 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  after  the  adjourn 
ment  of  the  Convention,  the  Whigs  of  Philadel- 
phia, who  were  nearly  all  idolatrous  worshipers 
of  Clay,  held  a  "  Grand  Mass  Meeting"  at  the 
Musical  Fund  Hall,  to  ratify  the  nominations. 
I  was  present  to  report  the  proceedings  for  the 
North  American.  The  meeting  was  not  at  all 
''Grand";  it  was  the  most  lugubrious  politi- 
cal festivity  at  which  I  ever  assisted.  Hardly 
anything  was  heard  from  the  speakers  but  jere- 
miads over  Clay.  The  address  of  Mayor  Swift, 
who  presided  over  the  meeting,  was  almost 
entirely  devoted  to  expressions  of  grief  on 
Clay's  behalf.  He  was  so  overcome  by  his  feel 
ings  that  he  spoke  with  whimsical  incoherency. 
After  a  time  he  put  his  right  foot  upon  the  sent 
of  a  chair  before  him,  leaned  his  dhow  upon  his 
knee,  dropped  his  face  in  his  hand,  and  sobbed 


34  GREAT   SENATORS. 

aloud.  Be  st I  in  this  position  till  the  audi- 
ence grew  nervous.  On  recovering  somewhat 
from  his  emotion,  he  said — still  keeping  his 
attitude,  with  his  face  in  his  hand  : 

"  Permit  me,  my  friends,  while  bowing  to 
the  decrees  of  fate  and  the  decisions  of  the  Con- 
vention, to  keep  one  little  corner  of  my  heart 
green  in  friendship  for  him  whom  I  hoped  to 
have  lor  a  leader  in  this  campaign— one  little 
green  spot  on  which  I  can  rear  a  monument  to 
his  memory  which  shall  reach  to  the  clouds,  and 
whose  summit  I  can  water  with  my  tears  as  I 
kneel  in  sorrow  at  its  base." 

"  For  God's  sake,  Dyer,  take  care  of  the  old 
man's  rhetoric  I'1  whispered  McMichael,  who 
sat  immediately  behind  me.  I  suppose  the 
gifted  editor  did  not  see  how  the  good  old  man, 
while  kneeling  at  the  base  of  a  monument  that 
reached  the  clouds,  could  at  the  same  time 
water  its  summit  with  his  tears. 

The  character  of  this  4>  ( jrand  Ral ification 
Meeting"  indicates  what  the  state  of  affairs  w 


WIDESPREAD     DISAFPE(  TI<  »v 

Ill  the  Whig  city  of  Philadelphia,  where  th  (Con 
vention  was  held.  When  tlif  work  of  the  cam 
paigD  was  begun,  it  soon  became  evident  thai 

the  ticket  was  nol  popular  anywhere  in  the 
North,  East  or  West.  The  repugnance  of  the 
antislavery  Whigs  to  Taylor,  could  not  be 
overcome;  the  indignation  of  the  friends  of 
Clay  could  not  be  appeased.  The  widespread 
disaffection  gave  great  momentum  to  the  Free- 
soil  movement,  which  grew  so  rapidly  the  Whig 
leaders  saw  that  their  only  hope  of  success  lay 
in  getting  the  Barnburners  to  take  the  lead  of 
the  movement  and  bring  Van  Buren  into  the 
field  as  its  candidate.  The  Barnburners  held  a 
Conventionat  Utica  and  nominated  Van  Buren, 
but  he  peremptorily  declined  the  honor.  Hi- 
declination  was  a  severe  disappointmenl  to  the 
Barnburners,  and  left  them  all  at  sea  ;  but  it 
did  not  disappoint  or  discourage  Seward  and 
Weed.  They  knew  Martin  Van  Buren  through 
and  through,  and  believed  that  if  the  opportun- 
ity to  avenge  himself  upon  Cass  and  the  South 


GREAT    SENATORS. 

em  Democrats  were  offered  to  him,  under  cir- 
cumstances which  he  considered  worthy  of  his 
own  position  and  dignity,  he  would  embrace  it. 
bey<  »inl  a  I!  peradvenl  ure. 

VI.   Martin  Van  Buren. 

Martin  Vau  Buren  wasa  greaterand  a  better 
lii.ni  than  his  countrymen  have  ever  supposed 
him  to  have  been.  Superiority  was  stamped 
upon  c  \  ei  y  Lineament  of  his  countenance,  i 
met  him  and  Clay  on  the  same  evening,  al  a 
Wistar  party  (so  called  after  Dr.  Wistar),  in 
Philadelphia,  in  March,  L848.  The  opportunity 
thus  presented  for  studying,  comparing  and 
contrasting  those  two  men  was  inexpressibly 
gratifying  to  me.  I  was  astudentof  pbreno 
and  I  brought  .-ill  my  knowledge  of  thai 
subject  into  play  on  that  occasion.  It  was  the 
'  ime  I  had  seen  Van  Buren  ;  ( 'lay  I  had 
met  before.  Being  of  WTug  lineage,  I  had  from 
boyhood  been  taught  to  distrust  and  dislike  Van 
Buren  and  to  believe  in  and  admire  ( Hay.      The 


VAN     BUHEN     AND    CLAY. 

first  thing  which  struck  me,  as  I  studied  the  t  wo 
men,  was  Van  Buren's  evidenl  superiority  in 
intellectual  power.  This  was  a  disappointment, 
and  almost  a  shock  tonic  I  could  not  bear  to 
think  that  this  " tricky  Democrat " could  be  in 
any  wise  superior  to  " glorious  Harry  of  the 
West."  On  further  study  of  the  men,  I  was 
comforted  hy  the  conviction  that  (May  possesse  I 
the  more  eagle-like  qualities,  and  that  in  public 
debate  and  personal  intellectual  encounters  Van 
Buren  would  be  no  match  for  him.  But  1  could 
not  divest  myself  of  the  impression  that  in  a 
contest  carried  on  in  writing,  where  personal 
magnetism  and  oratorial  powers  could  not  be 
brought  into  play,  Olay  would  he  no  match  for 
Van  Buren.  (May's  manner  was  the  more 
instantaneously  captivating  ;  bul  as  the  minutes 
glided  by,  Van  Buren  constantly  won  upon  tin' 
favor  of  the  company,  and  before  lie  took  his 
leave  he  had  gained  a  powerful  hold  upon  their 
respect  and  admiration.  To  inc.  his  conversa- 
tion, his  gracefulness,  his  elegance,  his  perfeel 


GREAT    SENATORS. 

equipoise,  his  exquisite  courtesy,  his  intellectual 
grip  on  every  subject  he  touched,  were  a  revela- 
tion thai  til  In!  i  in-  with  wonder  and  delighl . 

I  afterwards  studied  up  Van  Buren's  histoiy 
and  made  a3  thorough  an  analysis  of  his  char- 
acter as  my  opportunities  permitted.  Phreno- 
logically  speaking,  Ins  affectional  and  propel- 
ling organs  were  markedl)  developed.  Love  of 
home  and  family  and  friends  was  strong  in  him. 
His combativeness,  destructiveness,  caution  and 
secretiveness  were  all  very  Large.  This  gave 
him  great  energy  and  industry,  with  perfect 
mental  and  emotional  equipoise  and  absolute 
self  possession  under  all  circumstances.  His 
firmness,  self-esteem,  approbativeness  and  hope 
were  large,  giving  him  dignity  and  courtesy  of 
demeanor,  strength  of  purpose  and  elasticity 
of  spirits.  1  te  was  never  Ion--  despondent  under 
adversity.  Hi-  moral  organs  were  \\<'ll  de- 
veloped, bul  In-  spiritual  <>r  religious  faculties 
were  weak;  and  hence,  while  he  was  distin- 
guished for  uprightness  <>f  character  and  purity 


MA  in  1  N      NAN      BUREN. 

of  life,  lie  was  devoid  of  enthusiasm  and  desti 
fcute  of  emol  tonal  fervor.     I  [is  intell  cl  ual  facul 
ties  were  massive  and  active.     His   brain    wa 
large  in   every    way     rather  too   large  for   his 
body.     His   organ   of  language,   though    fairly 
developed,  was  no1   large;   and  this  defect,  en- 
hanced by  his  lack  of    warmth  and  enthusiasm, 
prevented  him  from  taking  high  rank    as   an 
orator.        But   he   was   a    clear    and     powerful 
reasoner,  and  was  adroit  in  presenting  his  cause 
with  all  its  strong  points  foremost. 

Under  his  placid  demeanor,  Van  Buren 
could  cherish  a  vehement  desire  to  inflict  what 
theologians  call  "punitive  justice"  on  his  foes, 
and  was  capable  of  pursuing  a  purpose  with 
tenacious  determination  when  his  feelings  were 
deeply  enlisted  in  his  own  behalf.  He  was  proud 
and  sensitive  ;  and  his  pride  and  sensibility 
had  been  deeply  wounded  by  his  treatment  by 
the  Democratic  party,  and  especially  by  what  he 
believed  to  be  the  deliberate  treachery  of  Gen 
eral  Cass.     He  was  naturally  on  the  side  of  1  "  - 


:'ii  GREAT    SENATORS. 

soil.  Be  was  in  favor  of  the  Wilmol  Proviso. 
He  had  long  chafed  under  the  lead  of  Soul  hern 
statesmen,  fco  which  his  affiliations  with  the 
Democratic  party  had  compelled  him  fco  submit. 
How  aggravating  that  Southern  lead  was  to 
high  minded  Northern  statesm<  n.  it  is  impossible 
for  people  of  this  generation  to  imagine.  All 
thai  th"  South  had  to  do  to  concentrate  its 
entire  influence  against  a  Northern  man  was  to 
whisper  that  he  was  hostile  to  slavery,  [f  he 
wavered  a  single  jol  or  tittle  in  his  allegiance  to 
the  "peculiar  institution,"  he  was  at  once  os- 
tracised. These  tactics  were  brought  into  play 
early  in  the  history  of  our  government.  Web- 
ster, in  his  reply  to  Hayne,  away  back  in  1830, 
pointedly  alluded  to  this  practice.  "  I  know  full 
well,"  he  said,  "thai  it  is,  and  has  been,  the 
sett!  d  |  olicy  of  some  persons  in  Ihe  South,  for 
years,  to  represent  the  people  of  the  North  as 
disposed  to  interfere  with  them  in  t  heir  <>\\  n 
exclusive  and  peculiar  concerns.  This  i^  a  deli- 
cate and  sensitive  poinl  in  Southern  feeling  ;  and 


MARTIN     VAN     l;i  REN.  :■! 

of  late  years  it  has  always  been  touched,  and 
generally  with  effect^  whenever  the  obiecl  has 
been  to  unite  the  whole  South  againsl  Northern 
men  and  Northern  measures.  This  feeling:, 
always  carefully  kept  alive,  and  maintained  al 
too  intense  a  heal  to  admii  discrimination  or 
refit -ci  ion,  is  a  lever  of  greal  power  in  our  politi- 
cal machine." 

The  South  did  not  attempt  any  disguise  or 
concealment  in  this  matter.  Southern  Leaders 
made  no  secret  of  their  tyrannical  insistence. 
On  the  contrary,  they  gloried  in  it  ;  and  doubt- 
such  of  their  descendants  as  shall  read  this 
narrative,  will  indulge  in  smiles  of  grim  satisfac- 
tion and  pride,  on  being  reminded  how,  by 
means  of  such  speedy  and  invincible  concentra 
lion  of  Southern  sentiment,  their  honored  and 
beloved  predecessors  always  compelled  their 
Northern  allies  to  lick  the  dust  of  humiliation. 

In  addition  to  other  reasons,  the  implacable 
hatred  of  Van  Buren  by  John  ( '  Calhoun  and 
his  friends  (which  will    he  accounted   for  when 


GREAT    SENATORS. 

we  come  to  the  delineation  of  Calhoun's  char 
acter),  had  helped  to  make  "New  fork's  favor- 
ite son  "  feel  his  galling  yoke  of  polil  ical  servitude 
in  all  it-  bitterness.  And  now,  the  Democratic 
party,  under  the  lead  of  the  South,  had  insult- 
ingly cast  him  aside,  and  given  its  leadership  to 
the  man  who  had  so  cruelly  betrayed  him.  Van 
Buren  was  in  the  66th  year  of  his  age,  and 
could  not  hop.'  for  any  future  political  prefer- 
ment. Bui  he  could  throw  off  his  polil  ical 
chains  and  si  like  an  avenging  and  deadly  blow 
at  the  false  friend  who  had  betrayed  him,  and 
at  the  party  which  had  humiliated  him.  \\ 
in  human  nature  for  "a  frail  human brother"- 

peak  after  the  manner  of  good  men — 
to  forego  3uch  an  opportunity  for  vengeance  J 
Seward  and  Weed  knew  it  was  not;  they 
understood  the  passions  which  were  seething  in 
\  .in  Buren's  soul,  and  took  steps  to  utilize  them 
for  the  defeat  of  Cass  and  the  election  of  Ta  ylor. 
The)  unobtrusively  formed  an  alliance  with 
Benjamin   P.  Butler,  a  distinguished  lawyer  in 


FREE-SOIL    CONVEN  I ION 

the  city  of  New  York,  who  was  a  leader  in  the 
Democratic  party,  and  Win  Buren's  mosl  Inti- 
mate and  trusted  friend.  Butler  had  been  a  |>»'t 
and  protege  of  Van  Buren's  from  his  boyhood. 
He  studied  law  in  Win  Buren's  office  al  Kinder- 
hook,  and  became  his  law  partner  ai  the  age  of 
twenty-two.  During  the  lasl  year  of  Van 
Buren's  presidency,  Butler  was  his  acting  Secre- 
tary of  War  ;  and  from  the  day  that  Van  Buren 
left  the  White  House,  onMarch4th,  1841,  Butler 
had  been  devoted  to  him  both  politically  and 
personally.  He  keenly  fell  what  he  believed  to 
be  the  wrongs  of  his  beloved  chief,  and  burned 
to  avenge  them  upon  his  foes. 

VII.  The  Free-soil  National  Convention  at 

Buffalo. 

Butler  had  reason  (or  believing  that 
although  Van  Buren  would  not  demean  himself 
by  leading  a  mere  faction  tight  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  he  would  n«>t  refuse  to  place  him- 
self at  the  head  of  a  great    national  movement, 


9J  GREAT    SENATORS. 

and  a  great  national  movement  bad  been  deter- 
mined upon.  A  call  was  issued  for  a  National 
Convention  of  all  those  who  were  opposed  to  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  the  new  Territories,  to 
iii.'.-i  at  Buffalo,  on  the  9th  day  of  August.  All 
ihr  States  were  invited  t<>  send  delegates  to  the 
Convention,  to  nominate  Freesoil  candidates 
for  th.'  Presidency  and  Vice  Presidency.  This 
movemenl  received  the  enthusiastic  support  of 
the  disaffected  anti-slavery  men  in  both  parties, 
a ihI  also  of  the  old  lino  aholit  ioi lists.  The  Con- 
vention was  attended  by  all  the  anti  slavery 
magnates  (except  those  who  belonged  to  the 
extreme  Grarrisonian  wing)  and  by  thousands  of 
the  rank  and  tile.  There  was  a  sprinkling  of 
delegates  from  Delaware,  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia :  and  one  of  the  Virginia  delegates  elect  ri- 
fted the  Convention  by  announcing  thai  he  was 
"from  the  south  of  Mason's  and  Dickenson's 
line."  I  was  in  at  tendance  to  report  the  pr< 
ceedings  of  the  Convention  for  publication  u\ 
pamphlet   form. 


HALE'S     POPULARITY  95 

When  the  Convention  gol  under  way,  it  was 
discovered  that  the  preference  for  John  P.  Hale 
as  the  candidate  of  the  party  was  strongly  pre- 
dominant and  seemingly  irresistible.  To  make 
matters  worse,  Van  Buren  coquetted  with  the 
Convention,  and  sent  his  friends  a  letter,  in 
which  he  reminded  them  of  his  refusal  to accepl 
the  nomination  which  was  tendered  to  him  a1 
Utica  in  June,  and  strongly  hinted  that  it  would 
not  be  agreeable  for  him  to  be  compelled  '  i  < » 
refuse  another  nomination.  He  put  it  deli- 
cately, and  also  adroitly,  in  these  words  : 

''You  know,  from  my  letter  to  the  Utica 
convention,  and  the  confidence  you  repose  in 
my  sincerity,  how  greatly  the  proceedings  of 
that  body,  in  relation  to  myself,  were  opposed 
to  my  earnest  wishes." 

This  letter  was  received  as  conclusive  by  the 
friends  of  John  P.  Hale.  They  considered  his 
nomination  as  good  as  made  ;  and  in  their  blind 
confidence,  they  made  the  same  mistake  which 
the   friends    of   Clay    had    made   two    months 


GREAT    SENATORS. 

before  at    Philadelphia.     They   hurrahed,  made 

aes    fiery,  eloquent,  excellent    speeches 
and  seemed  to  be  having  everything  their  own 
way.     Meanwhile,   Seward,  Weed  and    Butler, 
who   read    Van    Buren's   Letter    with   a    uative 
sagacit)    of   perception    \\  1 1  i«  1 1  their  own   long 
practice  in  writing  similar  Letters  had  sharpened 
to    an    almost    preternatural    keenness,    were 
effectively  working  to  head  off   Bale  and  bring 
Van  Buren  to  the  front.     Seward  and  Weed,  of 
coins.',  worked  secretly  ;  Butler  openly.     They 
knew  ili.ii  the  proceedings  of  "  thai  body  " 
Utica  convention,  which  represented  only  a  sec- 
tion of  a   pai*ty  in  a  single  State,  was  quite  a 
different    thing,   in    Van    Buren's    estimation, 
from  the  proceedings  oJ  a  great    National  Con 
vent  ion  under  t  he  cont  rol  of  some  of  I  he  most 
conspicuous  and  influential  men  in  the  country. 
It    being    certain    t  hat    it"    t he  ( !on\  ent  ion 
should  come  to  an  early  vote,  Bale  would  be 
Dominated,  a  go< "I  deal  of  preliminary  busi 
vras  introduced,  and  opportunity  was  given  to 


deep   Management.  97 

every  ardent  orator  fco  orate  as  long  as  he 
pleased.  When  the  names  of  candidates  were 
proposed,  Hon.  Henry  Dodge,  I'.  S.  Senator 
from  Wisconsin,  who  was  a  highly  respected 
Free-soiler,  was  put  forward  as  the  opponent  of 
Bale.  Dodge  was  very  popular  in  the  West, 
and  his  name  was  greeted  with  such  enthu- 
siasm, it  seemed  as  though  he  would  carry  off 
the  prize.  Charles  Francis  Adams  was  also 
named  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and 
his  name  was  received  with  such  hearty  cheers 
thai  the  Hale  men  were  bewildered.  A  mes- 
sage soon  came  from  Senator  Dodge,  requesting 
his  friends  to  withdraw  his  name,  and  assign- 
ing ill  health  as  a  reason  why  it  would  be 
impossible  for  him  to  accept  the  burdens  of  the 
candidacy.  It  was  then  proposed-  the  idea 
being  started  by  the  secret  friends  of  Van 
Buren— that  Hale  should  be  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  and  Dodge  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 
This  proposition  was  opposed  by  the  friends  of 
Adams.     It    was  also   opposed    by   the   avowed 


GREAT    SENATOR& 

friends  of  Van  Buren,  who  were  seeking  to  gain 
time,  perplex  counsel,  weary  patience,  and  get 
the  Convention  into  such  aframe  of  mind  as 
would  lead  to  ilic  adoption  of  their  plan  when 
il  should  be  presented.  After  a  while  another 
communication  was  received  from  Senator 
Dodge,  refusing  to  allow  his  name  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  Convention  for  any  purpose  what- 
ever. This  was  a  set  back  to  the  friends  of 
Hale  and  helped  to  complicate  still  more  the 
already  confused  state  of  thing 

And  now.  when  everything  seemed  to  be  at 
cross  purposes,  the  friends  of  Van  Buren  played 
their  winning  card.  Tt  was  proposed,  in  <>u\<'}' 
to  simplify  matters,  and  maintain  thai  har- 
mony which  should  characterize  the  delibera- 
tions of  freemen  mel   to  cany  out  a  greal  and 

holy    cause,  thai    a   committee    on    nominations 

should  be  appointed,  who  could  consult  calmly 
and  quietly  upon  the  situation,  come  to  definite 
conclusions,  and  report  the  same  to  the  Conven- 
tion, for  its  approval  or  rejection,  as  the  case 


BUTLER'S    SKILL.  09 

might  be  This  proposition  was  adopted,  and 
the  committee  on  nominations  was  appointed. 
What  fche  views  of  a  majority  of  that  committee 
were,  it  is  easy  to  imagine,  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  Butler  and  his  helpers  knew  just 
exactly  what  they  were  about,  and  that  the 
friends  of  Hale  were  taken  unawares  by  the 
proposition.  The  committee  went  into  secret, 
session.  Butler  was  a  member  of  it,  and  so 
was  Salmon  P.  Chase,  the  President  of  the 
Convention,  who  up  to  that  time  had  been  a 
Van  Buren  Democrat,  and  who  didn't  like  Hale 
nearly  as  well  as  he  liked  Chase. 

Butler  soon  took  the  lead  in  the  committee. 
He  had  made  elaborate  and  profound  prepara- 
tion for  this  very  crisis,  and  his  managemenl 
was  so  consummately  able  that  it  would  have 
excited  the  admiration  of  Van  Buren  himself, 
could  he  have  witnessed  it.  He  first  convinced 
the  committee  that  Van  Buren  would  accept 
the  nomination,  if  it  were  unanimously  ten- 
dered to  him.     Then  he  set  at  work  to  persuade 


100  GREAT    SENATORS. 

them  thai  Van  BureD  was  nothing  less  than  a 
providential  candidate.  Here  was  a  man  who 
for  more  than  a  generation  had  enjoyed  the 
confidence  of  his  countrymen  ;  who  had  filled 
every  official  position,  from  a  State  legislator  to 
President  of  the  United  States,  with  conspic- 
uous ability  and  integrity  ;  whose  nam.'  was 
known  ami  honored  throughout  the  civilized 
world  this  great,  good  and  renownedman  they 
could  now  have  for  their  standard  bearer  in  the 
desperate  contest  in  which  they  were  about  to 
engage  for  the  can-.'  which  was  so  dear  to  their 
hearts.  His  appeal  was  successful.  The  com 
mittee  began  to  be  satisfied  thai  it  would  give 
them  national  prestige  to  have  Van  Buren  for 
their  candidate.  Butler  then  discoursed  upon 
Van  Buren's  admirable  personal  character,  and 
in  winning  words  sei  forth  the  purity  and  \h- 
tues  of  his  private  life.  He  gave  an  animated 
and  picturesque  description  of  a  visil  he  had 
recently  made  him,  al  his  home  in  Kinderhook. 
As  he  was  d<  scribing  the  almost  boyish  activity 


A    THUNDER-CLAP.  p.] 

with  which  Van  Buren  went  over  his  farmland 
the  pride  he  look  in  his  fields  of  grain  and  cab- 
bages and  turnips,  a  tall,  gaunt  delegate  from 
Ohio,  named  BrinkerhofT,  slowly  and  spirally 
elevating  himself  like  a  jackscrew,  shrieked  out, 
in  shrill,  piercing  tones  : 

"Damn  his  cabbages  and  turnips!  What 
does  he  say  about  the  abolition  of  slavery  in.  the 
1  >ees1  rick  of  Columby  !" 

This  was  a  thunderclap.  Silence  reigned, 
but  not  long.  The  committee  spontaneously 
burst  into  a  roar  of  mingled  laughter  and 
cheers. 

To  understand  the  terrific  impact  of  that 
question,  it  should  be  remembered  that  only 
.  eleven  years  before  (March  4,  1837),  in  his  in- 
augural address,  Van  Buren,  quoting  from  his 
letter  accepting  the  nomination  to  the  Presi- 
dency, had  said  : 

"  I  must  go  into  the  Presidential  chair  the 
inflexible  and  uncompromising  opponent  of 
every    attempt    on    the    part    of    Congress   to 


[02  GREAT    SENATORS. 

abolish    slavery   in   the    District    of    Columbia 
againsl  the  wishes  of  the  slaveholding  Stat< 

The  explosion  of  such  an  interrogative 
bombshell  as  Brinkerhoff  hurled  at  Van  Buren's 
eulogist  would  have  utterly  disconcerted  an 
ordinary  speaker.  Bui  the  veteran  Butler  was 
equal  to  the  occasion,  and  turned  what  might 
bave  Ik  en  a  disaster  into  a  means  of  triumph. 
Thanking  his  "friend  from  Ohio"  for  thus 
bringing  forward  the  important  subject  of  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Disl  rict  of  Columbia, 
he  would  answer,  from  personal  knowledge  of 
the  views  and  convictions  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  on 
that  subject,  that  if  he  should  be  el<  cted 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  if  a  bill 
abolishing  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
should  be  passed  by  Congress,  it  would  receive 
tii<'  President's  signature.  This  assurance 
occasioned  great  enthusiasm  and  was  received 
with  prolonged  applause  and  cheers.  The  feel- 
ing thus  excit<  d  decided  the  contest  in  the 
committee.      It    was   unanimously   resolved   to 


VAN     IH  m;x     NOMINATED.  103 

recommend  Martin  Van  Buret]  to  the  Conven- 
tion as  the  Free-soil  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
and  Charles  Francis  Adams  for  Vice-President. 
A  plat  form  of  principles  was  also  prepared, 
which  was  so  extreme  in  its  expression  of  Free- 
soil  and  anti-slavery  views  that  it  could  not  fail 
to  satisfy  the  most  uncompromising  members 
of  the  party.  The  Convention  adopted  the 
report  of  the  committee  entire,  both  as  to 
candidates  and  platform,  and  Van  Buren  and 
Adams  were  nominated  with  enthusiasm. 

One  of  the  mottoes  put  forth  in  the  platform 
as  a  party  cry,  was  :  "No  more  slave  States  ; 
no  more  slave  Territories."  Soon  after  its 
adoption,  Salmon  P.  Chase  arose  and  said  it  was 
thought  best  to  amend  the  platform  in  one  re- 
spect, namely  :  Instead  of  having  it  read  "No 
more  slave  States  ;  no  more  slave  Territories," 
it  was  proposed  to  strike  out  the  word  "  more  " 
in  the  last  clause,  so  the  motto  would  be  :  "No 
more  slave  States  ;  no  slave  Territories." 
Nothing  which    occurred  during  the  sitting  of 


104  GREAT    SENATORS. 

the  Convention  occasioned  more  intense  enthu- 
siasm than  did  this  proposed  amendment.  For 
some  reason  it  seemed  to  touch  the  inmost 
hear!  of  the  delegates  and  the  spectators,  and 
n  was  adopted  with  prolonged  cheering. 

Van  Buren  and  Adams  al  once  acc<  pted 
their  nominations,  and  the  Free-soilerSj  joyously 
throwing  their  banner  to  the  breeze,  wenl  into 
the  campaign  with  wild  hurrahs,  shouting  their 
motto,  "No mon  slave  states;  no  slave  Terri- 
tories." 


VIII.  The  Triangular  Fight  for  the  Presi- 
ded 5     Public  Feeling  in  Washington. 

rl'li<'  ensuing  triangular  contest  for  the 
Presidency  was  an  exceedingly  embittered  one. 
The  spectacle  of  Martin  Van  Buren  "  New 
Xork's  favorite  son  "—leading  the  anti-slavery 
to  battle  was  inexpressibly  maddening  t«> 
the  Democrats,  especially  to  those  of  the  South, 
;""1   they   fairly   thirst*  -I   for   the  blood  of  the 


WEBSTER'S    SPEECH.  105 

Free-soilers.  The  friends  of  Benrj  Clay  could 
not  forgive  his  alleged  betrayal.     Thecandidacy 

of  General  Taylor  did  not  evoke  any  party 
enthusiasm.  Daniel  Webster  said  that  lus 
nomination  was  one  not  fit  to  be  made.  Horace 
Greeley  held  aloof  week  after  week,  and  as  it 
was  becoming  apparent  that  the  vote  of  New 
York  State  would  probably  decide  the  contest, 
his  action  caused  great  consternation.  In  this 
emergency  it  was  reported  and  believed  that 
the  gallant  Clay,  although  he  would  not  take 
an  active  part  in  the  campaign,  earnestly  de- 
sired the  triumph  of  the  Whig  cause.  This 
conciliated  many  of  Clay's  friends.  Webster, 
not  that  he  disliked  Taylor  less,  but  that  he 
hated  Cass  and  Van  Buren  more,  was  induced 
to  address  a  mass  meeting  at  Marshfield,  in 
support  of  the  Whig  cause. 

His  speech  was  a  masterly  one.  He  analyzed 
the  situation  to  the  very  bottom,  and  exhibited 
the  practical  issues  at  slake  in  the  election  in 
the  clearest  light.      No  address  could  possibly 


106  GREAT     SENATORS. 

1)  iv.'  been  better  adapted  to  persuade  disaffected 
WTiigs  to  return  to  the  party  ranks  and  vote 
the  regular  ticket.  It  was  widely  published, 
and  produced  a  profound  effed  throughout  the 
Northern  States.  Greeley  so  hated  the  Demo- 
cratic party  thai  he  could  not  keep  out  of  the 
fight.  He  was  nominated  for  a  shori  term  in 
Congress,  and  threw  himself  and  the  Triburu 
into  the  campaign  with  his  accustomed  aider 
and  energy.  Everything  began  to  work, 
especially  in  New  York,  which  was  the  pivotal 
Slat  •,  a-  S.-ward  and  Weed  had  foreseen.  As 
the  contesl  went  on,  and  the  deeper  feelings  of 
the  partisans  were  stirred,  the  anti-slavery 
Whigs  of  th«'  Empire  State  discovered  thai  they 
could  not  play  into  the  hands  of  the  Barnburn- 
ers by  voting  for  Martin  Van  Buren.  Thou- 
sands of  them  returned  to  their  party  allegiance, 
and  casl  their  votes  lei-  Taylor  and  Fillmore. 
This  decided  the  contest.  Aside  from  the  vote 
of  New  York,  Taylor  had  128  and  Cass  127 
electoral  votes.     The  vote  <>r  New  York  then 


PEELING     IN     WASHINGTON.  L07 

as  so  often  before  and  since— determined  on 
which  banner  victory  should  perch  ;  and,  ow- 
ing fco  tin1  vast,  Democratic  bolt  in  favor  of  Van 
Buren,  Taylor  got  the  vote  of  the  Empire  State, 
by  a  small  plurality,  which  gave  him  37  majority 
in  the  Electoral  College— and  carried  the  Whig 
party  again,  and  for  the  last  time,  into  Federal 
power. 

It  was  only  a  month  after  this  bitter  contest 
was  ended  that  the  session  of  Congress  began, 
and  the  animosities  and  heartburnings  which 
had  been  engendered  by  the  fight  were  carried 
to  Washington.  On  the  fifth  day  of  the  ensu- 
ing March— the  fourth  coming  on  Sunday-- 
General  Taylor  was  to  be  inaugurated,  and  a 
Whig  Administration,  with  an  anti- slavery 
Vice-President  to  preside  over  the  Senate,  was 
to  come  into  power.  It  was  understood  that 
William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  and  Salmon 
P.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  were  to  be  elected  United 
States  Senators  from  their  respective  States. 
Seward  and  Chase  were  detested  by  the  South. 


t08  GREAT    SENATORS. 

and  tlif  idea  that  they  were  to  come  into  the 
Senate  was  intolerable  to  some  of  the  Southern 
Senators.  In  addition  to  all  these  irritating 
influences,  an  exasperating  rumor  was  circu- 
lated that  Seward  had  won  the  confidence  of 
Genera!  Taylor — who  spoke  of  him  as  "the 
great  Mr.  Seeward,  of  New  York  "—and  would 
be  influential  in  shaping  his  administration. 
All  these  things  helped  to  increase  the  excite- 
ment with  regard  to  slavery  and  abolition, 
which  already  ran  so  high  that  it  had  occa- 
sional mobs  in  Boston,  in  New  York,  and  in 
Philadelphia.  Anti-slavery  meetings  were 
often  interrupted  by  mobs  in  New  York.  I  was 
present,  as  a  reporter,  at  several  such  interrup- 
t  ions,  and  on  one  occasion  had  my  hand  trodden 
upon  by  a  ruffian  who  leaped  upon  the  table  at 
which  1  was  writing.  Sometimes  the  tables 
\v.»it!<l  be  overturned  and  the  legstornout  for 
bludgeons.  As  we  reporters  were  young  and 
enthusiastic  in  our  profession,  and  were 
endowed   with   a   fair  talent    for  table  Leg,  we 


THE    SITUATION.  109 

sometimes  got  in  a  little  good,  concussive  work 
on  the  crania  of  the  disturbers  of  our  peace  and 
our  notes. 

In  Washington,  moderate  anti  slavery  men 
were  socially  ostracised  in  slave  holding  circles, 
an  abolitionist's  life  was  sometimes  believed  to 
be  in  danger,  and  personal  collisions  were  per- 
petually imminent.  It  was  rumored  that  the 
Southern  leaders  had  concerted  a  scheme  for 
the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the  new  Terri- 
tories. This  greatly  excited  the  opponents  of 
slavery  extension,  and  they  determined  to 
oppose  and  defeat  the  alleged  scheme  at  all 
hazards  ;  and  it  was  in  the  collisions  which  it 
was  expected  would  occur  in  the  strife  upon 
this  subject,  that  the  statesmen  of  that  day 
apprehended  danger  to  the  country. 

Such  was  the  political  and  social  situation  at 
Washington,  on  the  opening  of  the  second  ses- 
sion of  the  Thirtieth  Congress,  on  December 
4th,  1848. 


lln  GREAT    >i;.\.\  TORS* 


CHAPTER  II. 
HALF-A-DOZEN  NOTED  SENATORS. 

I.  General  Sam  Bouston.  —  In  184S  there 
were  thirty  States  in  the  Union  and  sixty  Sena- 
tors in  Congress.  Of  all  these  sixty  Senators 
bul  three  are  now  (May,  18S9)  living,  so  far  as 
1  know  ;  and  they  are  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of 
Maine  ;  Sin  ion  ( !ameron,*of  Pennsylvania  ;  and 
Jefferson  1  >avis,  of  Mississippi. 

The  four  men  of  whom  I  intend  to  write  par 
ticularly  are  Calhoun,  Benton,  Clay   and  Web- 
ster.    Clay  was  nol  in  the  Senate  in  L848,  buthe 
came  in  at  the  session  of  *49. 

Besides  these  four  pre-eminently  conspicuous 
men.  there  were  others  in  the  Senate  deserving 

Micron    died  June  28th,  fifty  days  after  the  above  was 
written. 


GENERAL    HOI  BTON  1  |  1 

of  notice.  There  was  Greneral  Sara  Houston,  of 
Texas,  about  whose  name  more  romance  clua 
tered  at  that  time  than  encircled  the  name  of 
an\  other  American  citizen.  Houston  was  born 
in  North  Carolina  in  1793,  but  went  to  Tennes- 
see while  a  boy.  He  became  a  popular  favorite 
at  an  early  age,  and  after  a  brilliant  military 
and  Legal  career,  he  entered  the  arena  of  polil  ics, 
and  was  elected  Governor  of  Tennessee  when  he 
was  thirty-four  years  old.  It  was  predicted  that 
he  would  be  President  of  the  United  States  before 
he  was  Mtj,  but  a  sudden  and  incomprehensible 
stroke  of  fortune  shattered  his  career  and  drove 
him  from  civilization. 

The  mystery  which  surrounded  this  misfor- 
tune has  never  been  authoritatively  cleared  up. 
Shortly  after  his  inauguration  as  Governor  of 
Tennessee,  Houston  married  a  beautiful  young 
lady  ;  and  the  legend  is  that  at  the  time  of  her 
marriage  she  had  a  lover  (not  Houston  >to  whom 
she  was  passionately  devoted  ;  that  her  family 
compelled  her  to  marry    Eouston   because  he 


l\%  great  senators. 

was  Governor  of  Tennessee  and  the  mosl  popu- 
lar man  in  the  State  excepl  General  Jackson; 
thai  Bouston  soon  discovered  the  truth  of  the 
matter  and  was  overwhelmed  by  it  — in  fact, 
was  nearly  driven  insane  by  it.  At  all  events, 
he  resigned  his  office  and  disappeared.  It  is  said 
that  he  did  tins  in  order  that  his  wife  might  get 
a  divorce  and  marry  the  man  she  loved.  After 
a  while  it  was  found  that  he  had  gone  to  the 
Cherokee  country,  had  been  made  a  chief  of  that 
tribe,  and  was  living  in  barbaric  dignity;  that 
is  to  say,  in  a  wigwam  plentifully  supplied  with 
skins,  wild  game,  whiskey  and  tobacco. 

When  the  troubles  between  Texas  and 
Mexico  began,  Houston  went  to  Texas,  became 
commander-in-chief  of  her  army,  defeated  and 
captured  Santa  Anna,  in  April,  L836,  was  elected 
President  of  the  Texan  Republic,  and  finally, 
when  in  L845  Texas  was  annexed  by  treaty  to 
the  United  States,  he  was  elected  United  stales 
Senator,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  at  the 
period  of  which  I  am  writ  ing. 


GENERAL    HOUSTON.  U3 

It  is  not  probable  that  any  one  in  these  days 
feels,  or  could  feel  such  an  interest  in  General 
Houston  as  people,  and  especially  young-  nun, 
felt  in  him  forty  years  ago.  The  tragic  circum- 
stances which  attended  the  struggle  of  Texas 
for  her  independence  were  then  fresh  in  our 
memories.  My  heart  leaps  now  and  my  blood 
grows  hot  as  I  recall  the  time,  in  April,  1S36, 
when  the  news  of  the  terrible  fight  in  the 
Alamo,  at  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  first  came  to 
the  sequestered  village  of  Lockport,  N.  Y., 
where  I  lived,  then  a  boy  just  coming  twelve 
years  old.  I  wept  over  the  fate  of  the  three 
heroic  colonels — Travis,  Crockett  and  Bowie, 
and  young  as  I  was  I  thirsted  for  vengeance 
and  prayed  for  vengeance  on  their  slayers. 

As  we  children  on  the  Niagara  frontier 
were  brought  up  to  hate  the  British,  wild 
beasts,  Indians,  and  foes  of  every  kind  whatso- 
ever, and  were  taught  to  believe  in  the  good  old- 
fashioned  fire  and  brimstone  hell,  and  in  cognate 
Scripture  tenets,  undiluted  with  any  revisionary 


114  GREAT    SENATORS. 

Sheol  or  Hades,  L  suppose  iliat  our  militant 
religion  had  a  robustness  and  an  edge  which 
are  impossible  to  the  faith  of  boys  broughl  up 
on  tin1  human itarianism  and  the  diluted  the- 
ology of  the  presenl  day.  At  any  rate,  weal! 
prayed  fervently  to  God  to  avenge  Travis, 
Crockett  and  Bowie  on  the  Mexicans.  And 
when,  tour  or  five  weeks  afterwards,  news 
came  of  the  massacre  of  Colonel  Fannin  and  his 
men  at  Goliad,  after  they  had  surrendered 
under  a  solemn  agreement,  in  writing,  thai 
they  should  be  treated  as  prisoners  of  war,  the 
whole  community  was  aroused  to  madness 
Public  meetings  were  held  and  fiery  resolutions 
wcro  passed.  We  piaycd  for  vengeance  more 
fervently  than  over.  Twenty-four  boys,  of 
which  I  was  one.  formed  a  company  to  march 
down  and  ravage  Mexico;  1>ut  news  of  Hous- 
ton's defeat  and  capture  of  Santa  Anna  al  San 
Jacinto  came  in  t ime  to  save  that  ill  fated 
republic  from  i  he  impending  invasion. 

The   battle  of  San   Jacinto  was   fought   in 


GENERAL     HOI  STON.  I  1 ;, 

April,  but  uews  of  the  victor}  did  not  reach 
Lockporl  till  June.  There  were  no  railroads  or 
telegraphs  in  those  days  L836).  Bui  it  did  nol 
make  any  difference.  The  news  was  jusl  as 
fresh  and  welcome  when  it  came,  as  though  it 
had  been  flashed  over  the  wires  on  the  day  of 
battle.  We  all  rejoiced  with  exceeding  great 
joy,  felt  proud  to  think  thai  our  prayers  for 
vengeance  had  been  answered  so  soon,  and 
took  great  comfort  in  our  religion  which  so 
speedily  led  to  such  gratifying  and  practical 
results.  We  were  a  simple  people  who  believed 
in  God,  and  loved  heroes  who  Avon  battles  in 
accordance  with  our  prayers;  and  from  thai 
time  General  Sam  Houston  was  sei  in  our 
hearts  alongside  Jackson  and  Washington. 
^  Twelve  years  had  passed,  and  T  was  now  to 
see  this  hero  face  to  face,  to  hear  him  speak, 
and  report  his  words.  My  experience  with 
" great  men  "  and  politicians  at  the  Whig  Con 
vention  the  previous  .June,  and  at  the  Free-soil 
Convention  in  August,  had   rather  chilled   my 


HO  GREAT    BENATORS. 

expectations  as  to  all  sorts  of  heroes.     Hence  it 
was   not    without    apprehension   thai     I    first 
approached  General    Houston  and  looked  him 
over,  as  he  stood  in  an  auto  room  of  the  Senate 
Chamber,   talking  with  his  colleague,  Senator 
Rusk.     I  was  not  disappointed  in  his  appear- 
ance.    It  was  easy  to  believe  in  his  heroism,  and 
to   imagine   him    leading  a   heady   fight,    and 
dealing  destruction  on  his  foes.     He  was  then 
only  fifty-five  years  old,  and  seemed  to  be  in 
perfect  health  and  admirable  physical  condition. 
He    was    a    magnificent    barbarian,    somewhat 
tempered   with  civilization.     He  was   large  of 
frame,     of     stately     carriage     and     dignified 
demeanor,  and  had  a  lionlike  countenance  cap- 
able of  expressing  the  fiercest   passions.     His 
dress  was  peculiar,  but  it  was  becoming  to  his 
style.     The  conspicuous  features  of  it    were  a 
military  cap,  and  a  shorl  military  cloak  of  fine 
blue    broadcloath,    with    a     blood  red     lining. 
Afterwards,  I  occasionally  met    him   when  h<i 
wore  a  vast   and  picturesque  sombrero  and  a 


GENERAL     HOUSTON.  1  17 

Mexican  blanket  a  sorl  of  ornamented  bed- 
quilt,  with  a  slit  in  the  middle,  through  which 
the  wearer's  head  is  thrust,  leaving  the  blanket 
to  hang  in  graceful  folds  around  the  body. 

Like  other  men  of  his  class,  General  Hous- 
ton was  a  heavy  drinker,  hut  he  seldom  showed 
the  effect  of  his  potations.  It  seemed  to  me  as 
though  his  wild  life  had  unfitted  him  for  civili- 
zation. He  was  not  a  man  to  shine  in  a  delib- 
erative assembly.  It  was  only  at  rare  intervals 
that  he  took  any  part  in  the  debates,  and  when 
lie  did  speak,  his  remarks  were  brief.  His 
principal  employment  in  the  Senate  was  whit- 
tling pine  sticks.  I  used  to  wonder  where  he 
got  his  pine  lumber,  but  never  fathomed  the 
mystery.  He  would  sit  and  whittle  away,  and 
at  the  same  time  keep  up  a  muttering  of  discon- 
tent al  the  long  winded  speakers,  whom  he 
would  sometimes  curse  for  their  intolerable  ver- 
bosity. Those  who  know  him  well  said  thai  he 
was  tender  hearted,  and  had  a  chivalric  regard 
for  women  ;  that  he  would  make  any  persona] 


lls  GREAT    SENATOBS. 

sacrifice  to  promote  the  welfare  of  a  lady  friend 
areputatioD  which  was  directly  in  line  with 
his  alleged  conducl  towards  his  wife.  It  was  a 
matter  of  common  jocose  remark  that  if  4k01d 
San  Jacinto"  'that  was  Houston's  nickname) 
should  ever  become  President,  he  would  have  a 
Cabinel  of  women. 

General  Houston  impressed  me  as  a  lonely, 
melancholy  man.  And  if  the  story  of  his  early 
Life  was  true,  he  might  well  he  lonely  and 
melancholy,  notwithstanding  his  success  and 
his  fame  ;  for  that  terrible  hlow  which  smote 
him  to  the  heart  at  the  zenith  of  his  splendid 
young  career,  and  dislocated  his  life,  and  drove 
him  to  the  wilderness,  must  have  inflicted 
wounds  thai  uo  political  triumphs  or  military 
glory  could  heal.  He  was  a  sincere  lover  of  his 
country,  was  indomitably  patriotic,  and  stood 
firmly  by  the  Union  to  the  day  of  bis  death, 
which  came  in  L863. 


JEFFERSON     DAVIS.  ll:i 

II.  Jefferson  Davis. 

/f  Another  member  of  that  Senatorial  body  who 
deserves  notice  was  Jefferson  Davis,  whose  sub- 
sequent career  has  made  his  name  known 
throughout  the  civilized  world.  Mr.  Davis  was 
son-in-law  to  General  Taylor,  the  incoming 
President.  He  was  forty  years  old  (1848)  and 
~  .  in  vigorous  health,  but  lame  from  a  wound  he 
received  only  twenty-one  months  before,  in  the 
Mexican  war,  in  which  he  greatly  distinguish*  d 
himself.  Indeed,  his  gallant  conduct  at  the 
desperate  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  where  he  re- 
ceived his  wound,  had  made  him,  next  to  Scott 
and  Taylor,  one  of  the  most  popular  heroes  of 
the  day. 

^1  have  spoken  of  the  excitement  caused  in 
Lockport  on  the  reception  of  the  news  of  the 
tragic  events  which  occurred  during  the  Texan 
war  for  independence.  A  similar,  but  a  much 
deeper  excitement  was  felt  throughout  the  en- 
tire country,  with  regard  to  the  fate  of  General 


[20  GREAT     SKXATORS. 

Taylor  and  his  army,  for  several  weeks  before 
authentic  m-ws  of  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista  was 
received.  It  was  reported  thai  Taylor's  forces 
had  been  greatly  reduced  by  the  mismanage- 
ment of  ilic  Administration  at  Washington,  and 
thai  "Old  Rough  and  Ready,"  as  Genera]  Tay- 
1  >r  was  affectionately  nicknamed,  had  been  pur- 
posely It'l't  to  be  destroyed  to  prevenl  hiscoming 
into  the  field  as  a  Whig  candidate  for  the  Presi-^^ 
dency.  Tin's  rumor  was,  oi  course,  cruelly 
false,  but  it  was  believed,  and  gave  additional  v. 
intensity  to  the  interest  which  was  felt  in  the 
uncertain  fate  of  the  old  hero.  It  became  known 
that  Santa  Anna,  seeiug  his  opportunity,  had 
rushed  to  Taylor's  destruction  with  an  over- 
whelming force.  Our  little  army  was  beyond 
the  reach  of  all  ordinary  channels  of  communi- 
cation, and  so  the  country  was  left  in  terrible 
suspense  as  to  its  fate.  The  ear  of  the  nation 
was  mined  wiili  agonizing  solicitude  to  catch 
thefirsl  tidings  from  that  devoted  little  Land. 
And  when  the  uews  al   last  came    the  news  of 


JEFFERSON     DAVIS.  121 

a  blood v  victory — gained  after  two  days  of  des- 
perate fighting  against  overwhelming  odds— it 
came  with  a  rush  and  a  roar  and  an  outburst  of 
rejoicing,  such  as  the  country  had  never  before 
witnessed  or  heard.  The  news  was  brought 
across  Texas  to  New  Orleans  by  pony  express, 
and  was  conveyed  through  the  country  by  the 
same  slow  means,  except  where  navigable  rivers 
gave  an  opportunity  to  send  it  by  steamboat. 
As  the  newspaper  reporters  and  the  bearers  of 
dispatches  scurried  through  the  country  they 
told  the  news  along  their  routes,  and  the  entire 
population  broke  out  with  rejoicing  in  their 
wake.  City  after  city,  village  after  village, 
hamlet  after  hamlet  was  illuminated,  and  the 
whole  nation  revelled  in  rejoicing.  Every  par- 
ticular of  the  battle  was  minutely  described, 
and  the  descriptions  were  eagerly  read.  Among 
these  descriptions  was  a  glowing  account  of 
the  gallantry  of  Colonel  Jefferson  Davis  of 
the  First  Regiment  of  Mississippi  Volunteers, 
who,  though   badly   wounded,  refused  to    quit 


]■_>■_>  GREAT    SENATORS. 

the  field,  but  grimly  sat  on  his  horse  at  the 
head  of  his  regiment,  and  held  a  vital  position 
against  a  vastly  superior  force,  until  victory 
was  assured. 

Colonel  Davis,  who  was  a  graduate  of  West 
Point  and  had  served  several  years  in  the  regu- 
lar army,  was  an  accomplished  soldier.  His 
regiment,  the  First  Mississippi,  was  attacked  by 
a  force  that  outnumbered  it  six  to  one,  and 
was  sorely  pressed.  But  Davis,  knowing  that 
if  they  were  driven  from  their  position  the 
American  line  of  battle  would  be  so  weakened 
as  to  imperil  the  safety  of  the  entire  army,  held 
his  ground  with  invincible  resolution.  When 
he  was  so  badly  wounded  that  the  surgeon  told 
him  he  musl  retire,  he  refused  to  go.  He  had 
his  wound  dressed  while  he  sat  in  his  saddle, 
and  held  <»n.  Santa  Anna,  growing  desperate 
;it  tii.-  successful  resistance  of  the  Mississippians, 
finally  ordered  a  brigade  of  cavalry  to  charge 
ih. -in.  Davis,  seeing  wh.it  was  coming,  formed 
his    regiment    in    the   shape   of    a    V,  opening 


JEFFERSON     DAVIS.  123 

towards  the  enemy,  while  he  sat  at  its  apex. 
A < -coid ing  to  the  descriptions  of  the  battle 
published  at  the  time,  the  Mexicans  came  gal- 
lantly on  and  rode  into  the  V.  The  Mississip- 
pians  stood  with  their  rifles  at  their  shoulders 
and  their  fingers  on  the  triggers,  awaiting  the 
orders  of  their  colonel.  When  Davis  saw  that 
the  critical  moment  had  come,  his  clarion  voice 
rang  out  the  one  word,  "Fire!"  His  troops 
spontaneously  responded,  and  blew  the  Mexi- 
cans from  their  saddles.  The  end  soon  came. 
The  surviving  foes,  appalled  by  the  slaughter, 
galloped  wildly  from  the  field  ;  the  victorious 
Mississippians  had  a  respite  from  their  desperate 
struggle,  and  their  sorely  wounded  colonel  was 
able  to  seek  the  relief  which  he  so  much  needed. 
It  was  the  wound  thus  and  then  received  which 
caused  the  lameness  of  Jefferson  Davis  when  I 
first  saw  him  in  Washington,  in  December, 
L848. 

y  Mr.  Davis  was  a  handsome  man,  with  a 
symmetrica]  figure,  well  up  to  the  medium  size, 


[24  GREAT    >i;.v\t<h;s. 

a  piercing  but  kindly  eye,  and  a  gamy,  chival- 
ric  bearing.  He  bad  a  fine,  sonorous  voice, 
and  was  always  a  fluent  and  sometimes  an 
eloquent  speaker.  He  was  ready  and  skillful 
in  debate,  animated  in  style,  occasionally 
vehement  in  manner,  but  always  courteous. 

I— then  a  young  man  of  twenty-four,  and 
only  a  few  years  out  of  the  woods  <>t'  Niagara 
county  became  attached  to  Jefferson  Davis,  on 
account  <>f  his  genial  personal  kindness. 
Sometimes  there  were  hills  before  the  Senate 
full  of  Indian  names,  or  Mexican  (Aztec)  names, 
or  Spanish  names,  thai  the  Senators  could  not 
pronounce  correctly  and  which  we  reporters 
could  not  catch  ;  hence,  it  was  necessary  for  us 
•  sight  of  the  names  in  print,  in  order  to 
write  them  oul  correctly  in  em-  reports.  When- 
ever ;i  discussion  on  BUCh  a  hill  took  place,  I 
used  to  ;i|i|>lv  to  Mr.  Davis  lor  a  copy  <»l  the 
document,  and  he  would  always  get  me  one.  do 
matter  bow  much  trouble  it  gave  him  t<>  d<>  -.». 
And  he  did   ii    with  such  genial  courtesy  and 


JEFFERSON     DAVIS.  L25 

kindness  thai  his  manner  wenl  straight  fco  the 
heart  and  stayed  there.  In  fact,  I  used  to 
not  ice  thai  it  seemed  to  give  Jefferson  Davis 
pleasure  to  do  an  acl  of  kindness  for  anybody. 

»  It  is  nol  probable  that  Mr.  Davis  remembers 
any  of  these  things  (or  thai  he  even  remembers 
mv  name),  but  they  are  fresh  in  my  recollec- 
tion. I  often  thought  of  Mr.  Davis's  kind 
persona]  nails  in  after  years,  and  especially 
during  the  war,  when  any  of  us  Northern  men 
won  Id  have  been  glad  to  have  had  him  slain  as 
an  enemy  of  the  country,  winch  sentiment  he 
doubtless  fully  and  naturally  reciprocated.  But 
now  thai  all  that  is  past,  and  the  asperities  of 
war  have  given  place  to  the  amenities  of  peace, 
I  find  only  friendly  feelings  in  my  heart  towards 
Jefferson  Davis,  and  would  gladly  reciprocate, 
if  opportunity  should  offer,  the  kindness  which, 
all  those  years  ago,  he  showed  to  me,  an  obscure 
young  man,  when  he  was  a  distinguished  and 
powerful  Senator  of  the  United  States, 


126  GREAT    SENATORS. 


III.  John  P.  Hale. 


John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  was  the 
first  man  who  waselected  a  United  StatesSena- 
tor  on  a  square  anti-slavery  issue.  It  was  re- 
ported that  when  Hale  firsl  look  his  scat  in  the 
Senate,  his  life  was  threatened  by  pro-slavery 
fanatics.  This  may  have  been  true;  for, 
although  qo  Southern  man  of  distinction  would 
have  thought  of  making  or  of  countenancing 
such  a  threat,  there  has  never  been  any  age  or 
any  party  in  which,  if  there  was  a  chance  for  an 
act  of  folly  to  be  committed,  there  was  not  some 
fool  on  hand  ready  to  commit  it.  An  at  tern  pi 
was  certainly  made  to  browbeal  Hale  into 
silence  ;  but  the  effort  was  ludicrously  I'm  ile.  It 
might  as  well  have  been  attempted  to  silence  the 
thunder  <  >f  Niagara. 

A  Methodist  minister  in  New  Hampshire  said 
thai  "John  P.  Hale  had  been  specially  selected 
by  Providence  to  inoculate  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  with  the  spirit  and  practice  of  I 


JOHN     P      HALE.  11:7 

speech  on  the  subjecl  of  slavery."  I  do  not 
know  that  the  Methodist  minister  was  in  the 
confidence  of  Providence,  and  so  spoke  by  the 
card  ;  but  Hale's  career  as  a  Senator  showed 
that  if  he,  in  fact,  was  thus  commissioned, 
Providence  exhibited  its  usual  sagacity  when  it 
chose  him  for  the  alleged  purpose. 

Hale  was  thoroughly  brave,  and  always 
stood  up  man  fully  for  his  rights  ;  but  he  was  so 
constitutionally  good-natured  that  he  could  not 
be  provoked  to  anger,  and  so  incorrigibly  lazy, 
it  was  impossible  to  stimulate  him  into  a  row. 
In  addition  to  these  amiable  qualities,  he  had  an 
inexhaustible  fund  of  unctuous  humor  and 
brilliant  wit.  His  voice  was  a  pleasant,  pene- 
trating tenor,  his  enunciation  was  distinct,  and 
he  spi  >ke  with  extraordinary  fluency.  He  had  a 
genius  for  debate.  Nobody  in  the  Senate  could 
successfully  contend  with  him  in  repartee. 

Senator  Foote,  of  Mississippi  (a  loquacious 
and  good-natured  man,  who  sometimes  let  his 
tongue  say  what  bis  heart    would   repudiate). 


128  GREAT    SENATORS. 

permitted  himself  to  declare,  on  Lhe  floor  of  fehe 
Senate,  that  if  the  abolitionist,  Hale,  should 
ever  come  to  Mississippi,  they  would  hang  him 
there  on  the  tallest  tree  thai  could  be  found. 
This  shocked  the  Senate  (and  in  fact  the  whole 
country),  and  Southern  Senators  disclaimed 
sympathy  with  such  an  unparliamentary  utter- 
ance. But  Hale  good-naturedly  replied  that  if 
the  Senator  from  Mississippi  should  visit  New 
Hampshire,  the  intelligent  and  Christian  people 
of  rh.ii  State  would  not  hang  him,  but  would 
treat  him  hospitably  ;  would  show  him  their 
churches  and  manufactories,  their  free  schools 
and  free  laborers,  and  do  all  possible  missionary 
work  on  him  :  and  if  he  still  remained  inconi- 
ble,  they  would  ool  hang  him,  but  would  hire  a 
hall  for  him,  and  let  him  talk  as  long  as  he 
pleased,  feeling  certain  that  if  they  only  gave 
him  rope  enough,  he  would  be  sure  to  hang 
himself.  This  good-natured  and  witty  retort 
was  received  with  great  laughter,  in  which 
Senator  Foote  h<  artily  joined.     Hale  invariably 


STEPHEN     A.     D01  GLAS.  |-_\. 

got  the  laugh  on  anybody  who  attacked  him  ; 
and  lif  finally  became  a  favorite  Bpeaker  with 
the  majority  of  ! i i s  Senatorial  colleagues. 

I  V.  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  had  been  in 
the  Senate  less  than  two  years,  in  1*4$,  but  In- 
had  begun  to  take  rank  as  one  of  the  foremo-t 
debaters  in  that  body.  He  had  a  full  and  rich 
voice,  was  fluent  in  speech,  but  spoke  with 
deliberation  and  perfect  distinctness  of  enuncia- 
tion, and  was  thoroughly  self-possessed.  Mr. 
Douglas  was  called  "  The  Little  Giant,"  but  he 
was  not  a  little  man.  He  was  short  in  stature, 
but  he  was  broad-shouldered  and  deep-chested, 
and  had  a  large  and  finely  developed  head.  I 
used  to  think  that  his  head,  though  smaller  than 
Webster's,  was  modelled  after  the  same  pat- 
tern. 

Mr.  Douglas's  manner,  though  easy  and 
utterly  unconstrained,  was  dignified  and 
urbane.      Sometimes,   when    he    was   speaking 


[30  GREAT    SENATORS. 

wiih  animation,  he  hada  good  matured,  earnest, 
Lionlike  look,  blended  with  the  utmost  simplic- 
ity and  illuminated  with  a  high  degree  of  intel- 
ligence. On  such  an  occasion,  I  doubt  if  a 
stranger,  who  heard  him  for  the  first  time  and 
<li<l  not  even  know  Ins  name,  could  have  listened 
to  him  ten  minutes  without  being  strongly 
attracted  by  Ins  engaging  manner,  nor  with- 
out at  least  beginning  to  feel  a  personal  regard 
for  him.  He  was  still  more  winning  in  private 
intercourse.  There  was  not  the  least  taint  of 
snobbishness  about  him  ;  he  was  utterly  devoid 
of  pretentiousness.  He  never  put  on  what  vain 
and  self-conscious  Senators  imagine  to  be  airs  of 
Senatorial  dignity.  His  dignity  was  of  that 
solid,  genuine,  American  sort  which  can  uncon- 
sciously take  care  of  itself  without  airs  of  any 
kind. 

Mr.    Douglas   was  fond    of    young   men    and 

young  men  liked  him.  His  easy,  familiar, 
friendly  manner  was  always  impressive  but 
never  oppressive.     Several  times  he  had  occa- 


STEPHEN     A.     DOUGLAS.  1;>1 

sion,  or  else  he  pretended  to  have  occasion,  to 
speak  to  me  while  I  was  in  the  reporter's  seat 
(then  several  feet  at  the  left  of  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent's chair),  during  a  lull  in  the  business  of  the 
Senate.  Every  time  he  thus  spoke  to  me,  he  laid 
his  arm  upon  my  shoulder  in  a  companionable 
way,  and  talked  as  though  I  were  a  younger 
brother  in  whom  he  took  an  affectionate  inter- 
est. A  long  time  afterwards,  when  Douglas 
had  been  several  years  in  his  grave,  I  met  an 
enthusiastic  friend  of  his  in  Mankato.  Minne- 
sota, who  had  risen  to  political  distinction  ;  and 
on  describing  his  first  meeting,  when  a  young 
man,  with  Douglas,  at  a  party  in  Chicago,  he 
spoke  of  this  same  manner,  and  told  me  how  it 
thrilled  him,  and  won  his  heart  forever,  when 
the  distinguished  Senator  laid  his  arm  caressing- 
ly upon  his  shoulder  and  spoke  to  him  with 
friendly  interest  and  paternal  benignity. 

Douglas  died  in  1801.     I  never  saw  him  after 
1850. 


132  GREAT    SENATORS. 


V.  Simon  Cameron. 


Senator  Cameron  impressed  me  as  one  of  the 
mosi  knowing  men  in  the  Senate.  Mentally 
and  physically  he  was  energetic,  active,  alert. 
He  wis  a  good  debater.  He  always  spoke 
clearly  and  to  the  point.  Ho  never  wasted  any 
words.  Ajs  John  P.  Hale  said,  "he  had  a 
boring-in  stylo,  like  an  augur. M  He  was  a 
Pennsylvania  Tariff  Democrat,  and  was  aggres- 
sive in  asserting  his  opinions  and  convictions. 
He  brought  on  the  first  debate  of  the  Session  by 
opposing  a  motion  made  by  Senator  Davis,  of 
Mississippi,  to  print  twenty  thousand  extra 
copies  of  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury. 

Robert  J.  Walker,  of  Mississippi,  was  Secre- 
tary of  the  Tn  asury,  and  one  of  the  leaders  in 
the  free-trade  crusade  of  that  time,  which  cul- 
minated in  the  repeal  of  the  WTiig  protective 
tariff  of  L842,  and  the  enactment  of  the  Demo- 
cratic revenue  tariff  of   L846.     Hi-  report   con- 


SIMON     CAMERON.  ]:;;; 

fcained  an  elaborate  disquisition  on  the  advan- 
tages of  the  financial  policy  which  had  thus 
been  inaugurated. 

Senator  Cameron  said  he  didn't  believe  the 

country  wanted  any  extra  copies  of  the  Secre- 
tary's report.  Referring  to  the  defeat  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  the  recent  election,  he  said 
'•he  thought  that  the  country  had  already 
decided  on  the  merits  of  the  Secretary's  system 
of  finance,  and  they  had  decided  against  it." 
His  remarks  occasioned  an  outburst  of  indigna- 
tion on  the  part  of  Democratic  Senators,  and 
the  discussion  soon  became  heated.  Senator 
ll.de,  seizing  the  opportunity  to  let  off  a  little 
of  his  witty  nonsense,  said  : 

"  He  was  surprised  to  learn  from  the  Senator 
from  Pennsylvania,  that  the  people  of  this 
country,  in  the  late  Presidential  election,  had 
decided  against  the  late  tariff  act,  and  in  favor 
of  that  of  1842.  As  he  understood  it,  the  one 
great  question  connected  with  that  election 
was,  whether  General  Taylor  or  either  of  the 


[34  GREAT    SENATORS. 

other  nominees  was  the  most  genuine  Free- 
soil  man.  Audit  was  generally  conceded  that 
General  Taylor  was  the  genuine,  Simon  Pure 
Free-soil  candidate,  while  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  his 
friends  were  held  as  mere  pretenders  and  inter- 
lopers."    [Laughter.] 

Hair's  jocosity,  although  it  led  to  a  brief 
diversion  of  the  debate'  from  the  tariff  to  the 
recent  Presidential  election,  did  not  turn  the 
free-trade  Democrats  from  their  pursuit  of  the 
offending  Senator  from  Pennsylvania.  They 
soon  returned  to  their  attacks  on  him,  and  to 
tli<-  support  <>f  the  motion  to  print  an  extra 
number  of  Secretary  Walker's  free-trade 
report.  The  Whig  Senators  were,  of  course, 
delighted  at  this  domestic  infelicity  in  the  tanks 
of  their  opponents,  and  some  of  them  good- 
naturedly  helped  it  on  by  taking  sides  with 
Cameron.  But  thai  belligei-enl  Senatordid  not 
need  any  help.  Ho  easily  held  his  own,  and 
dealt  blows  righl  mid  Left,  with  such  vigor  as 
made  the  debate  uncomfortable  for  his  party. 


BIMON  CAMERON.  I;;;, 

Iii  a  sharp  rejoinder  to  observations  made  by 
some  of  the  Southern  Democrats,  he  said  : 

"  In  my  State,  (Pennsylvania,)  where  the 
people  live  by  their  honest  industry,  where 
every  man  works,  and  subsists  upon  the  labor 
of  his  own  hands,  there  the  tariff  was  the  ques- 
tion which  was  discussed,  the  issue  that  was 
placed  before  the  people.  The  Democratic  party 
would  not  have  been  prostrated  had  it  not  been 
for  this  financial  system." 

But  Cameron's  opposition  to  the  printing  of 
twenty  thousand  extra  copies  of  Secretary 
Walker's  free- trade  report  was  futile.  The 
motion  to  print  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  29  to 
21. 

The  reporters  felt  grateful  to  Cameron  for 
bringing  on  this  debate.  They  were  paid  a 
stipend  of  ten  dollars  a  week,  and  four  dollars  a 
column  for  their  reports.  A  week  of  the  session 
had  passed  without  any  debate,  and  all  the  com- 
pensation the  reporters  had  received  was  their 
weekly   stipend    of   ten    dollars.       It    may  be 


[36  GREAT    SENATORS. 

imagined,  therefore,  how  delighted  they  were 
to  have  a  debate  brought  on  which  put  many 
shekels  in  their  purses. 

CameroD  was  always  friendly  to  the  report- 
i  rs.  ( '11  one  occasion,  when  Senator  Badger,  of 
North  (  arolina,  introduced  a  resolution  "that 
ili«>  Committee  on  Printing  inquire  into  the 
expediency  of  discontinuing  the  contract  made 
at  the  last  session  for  publishing  the  reports  of 
the  debates  and  proceedings  of  Congress,"  he 
spoke  warmly  and  emphatically  in  favor  of  the 
reporters.  The  contract  to  which  Senator  Bad- 
ger's resolution  referred,  was  made  with  the 
National  Intelligencer,  the  organ  of  the  Whig 
paiiy.  and  the  Union,  the  organ  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  Bach  of  those  papers  was  paid 
seven  dollars  a  column  for  its  Congressional 
reports.  The  proprietors  of  the  papers  inter- 
preted their  contract  ^<>  liberally  that  fchey 
included  everything  which  came  before  Con- 
I  'resident 's  mi  .  report  -  of  head-  of 

Departments,  and   public  documents  of  every 


SI.Mo.N  CAMERON.  137 

kind  in  "The  debates  and  proceedings,"  and 
published  them  al  seven  dollars  a  column.     This 

occasioned  a  good  deal  of  dissatisfaction.  In 
addition  to  tins,  some  of  the  Senators  were 
indignant  because  their  speeches  did  not  read  as 
well  in  print  as  they  would  have  liked  them  to 
read.  There  was  an  extended  debate  on  the 
resolution,  which  was  finally  narrowed  down  to 
an  animated  discussion  of  the  ability  and  faith- 
fulness of  the  reporters.  On  this  question 
Senator  Cameron  spoke  out  with  vigor  and  ap- 
preciation. 

"I  do  not  believe,"  he  said,  u  there  is  a 
better  set  of  men  in  the  world,  in  their  profes- 
sion, than  those  who  are  now  engaged  in 
reporting  our  debates.  They  are  highly 
educated,  talented,  and  accomplished,  and  they 
devote  more  time  to  their  profession  here  than 
any  class  of  men  engaged  in  any  other  profes- 
sion in  the  world  devote  to  labor."   . 

The  reporters  all  liked  Senator  Cameron. 
The    system    of    reporting    the    Congressional 


138  GREAT    SENATORS. 

debates  was  continued  without  modification,  or 
any  more  fault-finding. 

Senator  Cameron  had  the  reputation  of 
possessing  the  Jacksonian  virtue  of  standing 
inflexibly  by  his  friends.  He  also  had  the 
Jacksonian  pluck  and  grit,  as   Senator   Foote, 

of    Mississippi,    discovered    on    a    mei able 

occasion.  It  was  the  last  nighl  of  the  Thirtieth 
Congress,  March  3,  L849,  when  the  session  of 
the  Senate  was  prolonged  till  seven  o'clock  on 
Sunday  morning.  Someof  the  members  took 
the  ground  that  the  Thirtieth  Congress  wenl 
ou1  of  existence  at  the  hour  of  midnight,  and 
i  liii  Senators  whose  term  of  office  expired  with 
the  termination  of  Congress  (of  whom  Cameron 
was  ono  ceased  to  he  Senators  at  midnight,  and 
had  no  righl  to  take  pari  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  senate  after  thai  hour.  Thai  prolonged 
session  woreoul  the  patience  of  many  Senators, 
.Hid  violent  outbursts  of  ill-temper  repeatedly 
occurred.  Senator  Foote  was  especially  aggra- 
vating iq  his  maimer  towards  members  whose 


SIMON  CAMERON.  139 

terms,  ;is  he  alleged,  bad  expired,  and  his  con 

duct  finally  Led  to  a  disgraceful  scene.     About 

three  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  while  Senator 

Berrien,     of    Georgia,     was    speaking,     there 

suddenly  arose— I  now  copy  from  the  report  : 

[Cries  of  "Question!  question!  question!"] 
Mr.  Berrien.   Who  calls  question  \ 
Mr.  Foote.  It  is  parliamentary  to  do  so. 
Mr.  Hannegan.  When  I  said  "question"  I 
thought   the  Senator  from  Georgia  had  taken 
his  seal . 

Mr.  CAMERON.  I  called  for  the  question. 
because  I  was  astonished  that  men  holding  the 
high  and  responsible  station  of  Senators  of  the 
United  States— 

Mr.  Foote.  I  call  the  Senator  from  Pennsyl- 
vania to  order.  He  has  no  right  to  talk  here, 
still  less  to  interrupt  other  Senators.     His  term 

of  office  has  expired. 

*  *  *  *  ->:- 

Mr.  Cameron.  I  rise  to  a  point  of  order.  I 
wish  to  know  whether  such  language  is  parlia- 
mentary. 

Mr.  Foote.  It  is  very  proper  under  the 
circumstances. 

Mr.  Cameron.  I  did  not  ask  his  opinion.  1 
can  judge  for  myself,  sir,  of  what  is  right  and 
proper. 

[Other  words  were  uttered  by  both  the  Sen 
ators  from    Pennsylvania  and   Mississippi,  and 
something    approaching    a    personal    collision 
ensued. j 


140  GREAT    BENATORS. 

That  is  the  polite  and  euphemistic  way  in 
which  the  reporl  puts  it  ;  but  tin-  plain  truth  of 
the  matter  was  that  the  two  Senators  called 
each  other  opprobrious  names  and  then  clinched. 
A-  I  reneral  Houston  said  :  "  The  eloquent  and 
impassioned  gentlemen  got  into  each  other's 
hair."  They  were  soon  separated,  but  not  until 
it  became  apparent  that  the  Keystone  State  had 
the  better  man  in  the  field,  and  he  was  n«>t 
molested  again. 

Mr.  Cameron's  subsequent  career  forms  a 
part  of  the  country's  history.  He  always  had 
devoted  friends  who  loved  to  celebrate  his  vir- 
tues, but  were  sometimes  indiscreet  in  their 
expressions  of  admiration.  For  example  : 
When  Cameron  resigned  his  office  as  Secretary 
of  War.  in  L862,  a  Pennsylvania  editor  gave 
him  two  columns  of  eulogy,  winding  up  with  a 
bursl  of  equivocal  enthusiasm.  "Thirty  years 
ago,"  said  the  ardent  editor,  "Simon  Came- 
ron Landed  from  a  raft  a1  Harrisburgh,  with 
<>nly   a  dime  in  his   pocket,  and  yesterdaj    be 


HANNIBAL  HAMLIN.  1  |  | 

Id't    i  he    War    I  Office    worl  h    five    millions  of 
dollars." 

VI.   Hannibal  Hamlin. 

Mr.  Hamlin  is  the  youngesl  of  the  three  (or, 
since  Mr.  Cameron's  recenl  death,  of  the  two) 
survivors  of  the  sixty  Senators  of  Is Is.  He 
was  horn  August  27,  1809;  Jefferson  Davis, 
June  3,  L803  ;  Simon  Cameron,  March  8,  L799. 

Mr.  Hamlin's  distinguished  career  has  made 
his  name  and  his  history  familiar  to  bis  country- 
men. I  do  not  remember  that  I  ever  spoke  to 
him,  and  lie  so  seldom  look  part  in  the  Sena- 
torial debates  that  my  observation  of  him  was 
too  slight  to  fix  his  individuality  clearly  in  my 
recollection.  I  remember,  however,  two  con- 
victions which  his  appearance  impressed  upon 
me;  one  of  which  was  that  he  was  a  man  of 
absolute  honesty  and  uprightness  ;  the  other, 
that  he  was  a  genial  and  humorous  man.  I 
remember  thinking  that  he  must  be  a  good 
storyteller,  and  that  he  would  be  a  pleasant 
companion  with  whom  t<>  |>a^s  an  afternoon  or 


L42  <;i;i.Ai    SENATORS. 

evening  on  the  deck  of  a  steamboat,  or  on  the 
piazza  of  a  hotel  al  a  summer  resort. 

There  were  other  men  in  the  Senate  al  this 
period  \\\\o  wei*e  then  notable  personages.  But 
there  is  not  sufficient  surviving  public  interesl 
in  them  to  warranl  me  in  sketching  them  here. 
They  did  nol  happen  to  do  anything  under  my 
observation,  or  say  anything  in  my  hearing 
which  was  noteworthy,  and  as  I  never  gave 
them  particular  attention,  I  have  only  a  vague 
recollection  of  their  personal  characteristics.  I 
will  therefore  pass  on  to  the  delineation  of  the 
four  great  Senators  Calhoun,  Benton,  Clay 
and  Webster-  of  whose  characters  and  person- 
alities I  have  made  special  and  prolonged  study. 

VII.  Ajlexandeb  H.   Stephens    An    [ncident 
at  J i  im.i:  McLean's. 

Before  entering  upon  the  delineation  of  the 
character  of  Calhoun,  Benton,  Clay  and  Web- 
ster, I  will  refer  to  a  distinguished  member  of 
tli«i    Souse  of    Representatives    -Alexander    II. 


ALEXANDER  II.  STEPHENS.  [43 

Stephens,  of  Georgia  -because  of  an  incident 
which  has  a  bearing  on  a  matter  of  some  im- 
portance which  was  subsequently  discussed  by 
Calhoun. 

The  Honorable  John  McLean,  of  Ohio,  one 
of  the  Justices  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  and  his  wife  became  so  interested  in 
phonography,  the  new  system  of  shorthand 
writing,  then  comiug  into  vogue,  that  they 
arranged  for  me  to  give  a  lecture  upon  the  sub- 
ject in  their  parlors.  They  invited  a  distin- 
guished company  to  hear  the  lecture.  Mr. 
Stephens  was  present.  After  I  had  explained 
the  system,  and  (with  the  aid  of  a  blackboard) 
taught  the  audience  to  read  simple  sentences 
written  in  phonographic  characters,  an  exhibi- 
tion of  rapid  writing  was  given  by  Dennis  F. 
Murphy,  who  for  many  years  has  been  the 
most  accomplished  reporter  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  but  was  then  a  pupil  of  mine,  fourteen 
years  old.  The  first  thing  which  was  read  for 
Murphy  to  take  down  in  short-hand  was  a  pas- 


144  GREAT    SENATORS- 

sage  from  the  Declaration  of  Independence* 
When  the  exercises  were  concluded,  and 
Murphy  had  finished  reading  the  dictated  pas- 
sage from  his  phonographic  notes,  Mr.  Stephens 
asked  : 

"How  old  is  thai  boy?" 

"Fourteen  years,"  I  replied. 

" Tli. -a  that  is  no  test,"  he  said.  "  Before  I 
was  fourteen  yens  old,  1  knew  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  by  heart.  Eead  something  else 
lor  the  boy  to  write  down.'' 

Several  passages  from  newspapers  and  books 
were  read.  Murphy,  who  had  a  remarkable  gift 
for  rapid  writing,  took  them  down  with  case, 
and  road  them  correctly  from  his  notes,  for 
which  he  was  much  applauded.  As  the  company 
was  dispersing,  the  Hon.  Thomas  Ewin 
Ohio  (who  came  into  General  Taylor's  cabinet 
a  few  months  afterwards,  as  Secretary  of  the 
Enterior),  jocularly  remarked  to  the  Representa- 
tive from  ( ><  orgia  : 


GEORGIA   BOYS'.  145 

"Stephens,  you  must  have  been  a  precocious 
boy  to  bave  known  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
by  heart  before  you  were  fourteen  years  old." 

"Oh,  no!"  Stephens  replied.  "  My  school- 
fellows were  equally  familiar  with  them.  We 
were  broughl  up  on  those  documents,  and  knew 
them  sentence  by  sentence." 

"Do  any  of  you  know  them  by  heart  now  ?" 
asked  Ewing. 

"I  can  speak  only  for  myself,  as  to  that," 
Stephens  answered.  "  I  do  not  know  that  I  could 
repeat  them  verbatim  now,  but  I  could  come 
pretty  near  it." 

A  few  days  afterwards,  I  met  Mr.  Ewing  : 
and  the  phonographic  lecture  and  Master  Mur- 
phy's wonderful  skill  in  short-hand  writing 
being  referred  to,  I  remarked  that  he  (Ewing) 
"seemed  to  think  that  Mr.  Stephens  was  mis- 
taken as  to  the  familiarity  of  Georgia  boys  of 
fourteen  with  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.1' 


146  GREAT    SENATORS. 

'•it   was   remarkable,"  Mr.  Ewing  replied  ; 
"but  1  have  no  doubt  that  Stephens  told  the 

truth.  Sucli  things  run  in  streaks,  in  schools, 
in  neighborhoods.  A  certain  set  of  boys  some- 
times astonish  people  by  their  familiarity  with 
subjects  which  no  one  would  suppose  them  to 
have  any  knowledge  of.  One  clever  and  ambi- 
tious hoy,  who  is  passionately  devoted  to  some 
particular  study,  will  inspire  many  of  his  school- 
fellows with  a  like  enthusiasm,  and  they  will 
make  that  study  a  hobby.  That  was  probably 
the  case  in  Stephens's  set;  but  I  do  not  sup- 
pose thai  in  general  the  boys  of  Georgia  arc 
any  more  familiar  with  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  than  are  the  boys  of  Ohio  or  any 
other  State." 

It  will  be  seen  further  on,  that  Calhoun's 
account  of  the  education  <>f  boys  in  South  Caro- 
lina was  somewhat  out  of  joint  with  Mr.  Steph- 
ens's statemenl  as  to  the  mental  acquisitions 
of  b<  iy s  iii  ( reorgia, 


,!<>JIN  C.  CALHOUN.  J47 


CHAPTER  III. 

John  C.  Calhoun. 
I.     Notions  of  Calhoue  cn  the  North. — My  feel- 

IXGS      TOWARDS      HIM.  —  HlS      PERSONAL 

APPEARANCE. — MY    CHANGE  OF 

FEELING  IN  HIS  FAVOR. 

Forty  years  ago  (1848)  John  C.  Calhoun,  of 
South  Carolina,  was  one  of  the  most  noted  men 
on  the  American  continent.  The  rabid  aboli- 
tionists of  the  North — of  whom  I  was  one — 
who  hated  slavery  and  slaveholders  with  viru- 
lent animosity,  felt  towards  Calhoun  the  same 
as  Southern  men,  who  hated  abolitionists  with 
equal  virulence,  felt  towards  William  Lloyd 
Garrison.  All  through  the  North,  Calhoun  was 
known  as  the  '4  Great  Secessionist,"  the  "  Great 
Nullifier,"  the  "Great  Disunionist,"  and  the 
fi  Great "   bad    man  generally,  who   had   long 


i  }-  GREAT  SENATORS. 

been  trying  to  destroy  the  CJnion.  As  I  was 
full  to  the  brim  of  abolition  bigotry  and  preju- 
dice, when  1  went  to  Washington  1  was 
naturally  eager  to  get  a  sighl  of  the  great 
South  Carolina  nullifier  and  disunionist ;  and 
when  he  was  pointed  out  to  me,  in  the  Senate 
Chamber,  I  gave  him  a  searching  scrutiny, 
[lis  appearance  satisfied  me  completely.  He 
med  to  be  a  perfect  image  and  embodiment 
of  the  devil.  Had  I  come  across  his  likem 
in  a  copy  of  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  1  should 
bave  at  once  accepted  it  as  a  picture  of  Satan, 
and  as  a  masterpiece  of  some  great  artist  who 
had  a  peculiar  genius  for  Satanic  portraiture. 
He  was  tall  and  gaunt.  His  complexion  was 
•lark  and  Indian  like,  and  there  seemed  to  be 
;in  inner  complexion  of  a  dark  soul  shining  out 
through  the  skin  of  the  face.  His  eyes  were 
large,  Mirk-,  piercing,  scintillant.  His  hair 
was  iron  gray,  and  rising  nearly  straight  from 
the  scalp,  fell  over  on  all  sides,  and  hung  down 
in  t  lack  masses  like  a  lion's  mane.     I  [is   feat- 


JOHN  C.  CALHOl  N  I  J'.i 

ares  were  strongly  marki  d,  and  their  expression 
was  firm,  stern,  aggressive,  threatening, 

It  was  some  time  before  1  heard  Calhoun's 
voice,  as  lie  seldom  addressed  the  Senate.     But 

at  last  a  petition  from  the  inhabitants  of  New 
M  sxico  (one  of  the  Territories  recently  acquired 
from  Mexico  by  our  Government!  was  presented 
to  the  Senate,  by  Colonel  Benton  and  Senator 
Clayton,  of  Delaware,  in  which  the  petitioners 
prayed  that  Congress  would  protect  them 
against  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  that 
Territory.  Here  was  that  everlasting  Wilmot 
Proviso  rfga in,  coming  up  from  an  unexpected 
quarter.  It  brought  Calhoun  to  his  feet,  and 
his  rising  at  once  brought  the  previously  scat- 
tered and  indifferent  attention  of  the  Senate  to 
a  focus.  Silence  reigned,  and  every  eye  was 
turned  upon  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina. 
He  denounced  the  petition— coming,  as  he  said, 
"from  a  people  conquered  by  our  arms" — as 
impertinent  and  insolent,  and  as  an  insult  to 
the    Senate   and    the    country.       1    was   much 


[50  GREAT    SENATORS. 

impressed  by  the  clearness  of  Calhoun's  views, 
by  the  bell  like  sweetness  and  resonance  of  his 
voice,  the  elegance  of  his  diction,  and  the 
exquisite  courtesy  of  his  demeanor.  Such  a 
combination  of  attractive  qualities  was  a  revela 
tion  to  me,  and  I  spontaneously  wished  thai 
Calhoun  was  an  abolitionist,  so  we  could  have 
him  talking  on  our  side.  I  thought  that  if  he 
only  were  on  our  side,  he  might  even  eclipse 
Wendell  Phillips  as  an  anti-slavery  orator. 

The  petition  from  the  inhabitants  of  New 
Mexico  had  been  prepared  at  the  instigation  of 
Colonel  Benton,  on  purpose  to  uncover  the 
designs  <>f  the  slavery  extensionists.  In 
fact,  it  was  surmised  that  Benton  wrote  the 
petition  himself;  and  when  Calhoun  declared 
that  it  was  an  insult  to  the  Senate  and  the 
country,  and  stigmatized  it  as  impertinenl  and 
insolent,    Benton,  who  haled  Calhoun,  was  en- 

•  d  and  replied  to  him  with  great  bittern* 
Benton's     manner     was.      and     evidently      was 
intended  to  be,  insulting  and  exasperating.     It 


JOHN  C.  CALHOUN.  l.M 

seemed  to  me  thai  Calhoun  would  be  uuable  I  i 
refrain  from  resenting  it  in  an  emphatic  way. 
But  he  treated  it  with  absolute  indifference.  I 
watched  him  as  closely  as  I  could,  and  it  was 
impossible  to  tell  from  his  manner  thai  he  was 
conscious  of  anything  which  Benton  was  saying. 
The  debate  became  general  and  a  good  deal  of 
bad  temper  was  shown.  Benton  repeatedly 
assailed  Calhoun  in  an  exasperating  fashion,  but 
he  did  not  seem  to  mind  it.  He  replied  to 
several  of  Benton's  attacks,  and  occasionally 
warmed  into  vehemence,  hut  maintained  his 
dignified  demeanor  and  exquisite  courtesy  to 
the  end  of  the  debate.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
contest,  my  feelings  were  against  Calhoun  and 
I  wanted  him  to  be  worsted;  but  at  the  close, 
although  I  was  opposed  to  the  principles  which 
lie  advocated,  my  personal  feelings  were  in  his 
favor,  and  his  physiognomy  seemed  to  have 
undergone  a  change.  Instead  of  Looking  like  a 
devil,  he  impressed  me  as  a  high-toned,  eleganl 
gentleman,   with  a  brilliant  intellect,  a   sweet 


[52  GREAT    SENATORS. 

disposition,  a  sound  heart,  and  a  conscientious 
devotion  to  what  he  believed  to  be  right.  1  was 
vexed  and  astonished  at  myself  thai  such  a 
change  should  have  occurred  in  my  feelings 
towards  the  Great  Nullifier.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  I  was  becoming  a  traitor  to  my  status  as 
an  abolition i si  ;  but  as  time  went  on  the  change 
also  went  on  in  spite  of  all  that  I  could  da. 

II.  A  New   Fear's  Call    The  State  Rights 
Doctrine  from  Calhoun's  Lips. 

On  New  Year's  day,  L849,  I  called  on  Mi-. 
Calhoun,  at  his  request,  to  explain  to  him  the 
new  system  of  phonographic  writing,  which 
was  then  exciting  a  good  deal  of  interest.  Mr. 
Calhoun  being  too  unwell  to  make  or  receive 
calls  thai  day,  lie  utilized  the  time  by  taking  a 
lesson  in  phonography.  Accompanied  by  Mas 
ter  Murphy,  1  went  to  Mr.  Calhoun's  residence 
.it  twelve  o'clock  and  stayed  till  sundown.  ll< 
was  not  at  all  well  ;  in  fact,  was  never  again 
well,  and  died  in  fifteen  months  from  I  hal  dav. 


JOHN  c  CALHOl  \. 

After  getting  through  with  phonography,  in  the 
philosophy  of  which  he  took  greal   tntere  i. 
he  also  did  in  fche  exhibition  of  remarkable  skill 

in  its  use  which  was  given  by  Master  Murphy, 
he  branched  off  into  reporting  generally,  and 
said,  among  other  things,  that  reporters  habit- 
ually made  one  mistake  in  their  reports  of  his 
speeches  which  annoyed  him. 

"  What  is  that  mistake  ?"  I  asked,  to  which 
li-  replied  : 

"  They  make  me  say  e  this  Nation,'  instead 
of  'this  Union.''  I  never  use  the  word  Nation 
in  speaking  of  the  United  States  ;  I  always  use 
the  word  Union,  or  Confederacy.  We  are  qoI 
a  nation,  but  a  Union,  a  confederacy  of  equal 
and  sovereign  States.  England  is  a  nation. 
Austria  is  a  nation,  Russia  is  a  nation,  bul  fche 
United  States  are  not  a  nation/' 

Then  he  launched  out  into  his  reasons  for 
never  calling  the  United  States  a  nation,  and 
touched  upon  his  whole  political  philosophy.1  I 
was  so  charmed   with   his   manner,   with   the 


l.M  GREAT    SENATORS. 

clearness  of  his  ideas  and  the  precision  with 
which  he  expressed  them,  thai  on  subsequent 
occasions  I  asked  him  many  questions  on  the 
subject,  which  he  always  copiously  answered, 
and  seemingly  with  pleasure,  He  used  the 
words   sovereign   and  sovereignty  so  often  in 

iking  of  the  ''sovereign  States"  and  the 
" sovereignty  of  the  people,''  that  on  one 
occasion  I  asked  him  where  sovereignty  origin- 
ated, and  how  one  State  got  .to  be  more  sover- 
eign than  the  United  States— than  all  the  States 
taken  together. 

His    reply,  which   follows,  I    wrote   out   in 
short-hand  as  soon  as  I  could.     It  is  not  probable 
that  I  reproduced  it  verbatim,  bui  the  substance  * 
is  accurately  given.     Be  said  : 

"That  question  goes  deep.  Sovereignty 
resides  in  the  people.  It  Lsnol  cr<  aU  dby  them  ; 
it  is  born  in  t  hem.  and  cannot  be  alienated  from 
them.  In  considering  the  nature  of  our  institu- 
tions, a  distinction  must  be  made  between 
sovereignty    and     government.      Government, 


John  c.  CALHOUN.  155 

unlike  inborn  sovereignty,  is  a  creation  of  the 
people  -is  the  instrument  devised  by  the  people 
for  exercising  their  sovereignty  over  their  own 
affairs  and  for  their  own  convenience  and  bene- 
fit. Sovereignty  is  natural,  government  is 
artificial.  Sovereignty  is  primary,  government 
is  secondary.  Sovereignty  is  inalienable  and 
unchangeable,  while  government  is  alienable, 
and  may  be  changed,  or  transferred  even,  at  the 
will  of  sovereignty — that  is  to  say,  at  the  will  of 
the  citizens  of  the  State  who  are  the  sovereigns. 
"In  our  Union,  or  Confederacy,  each  State 
is  a  sovereign  State.  The  thirteen  original 
sovereign  States  learned  by  experience  that 
their  political  necessities  comprised  two  distinct 
classes  of  governmental  wants;  first,  local  wants 
pertaining  to  domestic  affairs  and  circumscribed 
by  State  lines  ;  second,  general  wants  relating 
to  affairs  originating  or  extending  beyond  State 
1  Ines.  For  this  reason  it  became  expedient  that, 
in  addition  to  their  State  governments,  which 
could    administer   all    local    affairs,    the    States 


I.m;  GREAT     SENATORS. 

should  institute  a  general  government,  or  com- 
mon agent,  to  attend  to  general  and  common 
and  foreign  affairs,  such  as  are  common  to  all 
the  States  and  require  the  exercise  of  jurisdic- 
tion beyond  Stat.-  lines.  The  States  did  institute 
such  common  agent  or  general  government,  to 
wit  :  the  Federal  Government,  to  transact  cer- 
tain business  for  them  ;  hut  they  did  not  endow 
ii  with  an  atom  of  sovereign  power,  and  in  fact 
could  not  do  so,  because  sovereignty  is  inalien- 
able, and  perpetually  resides,  where  its  Creator 
originally  placed  it,  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of 
individual  freemen." 

''How  then,"  I  asked,  "does  a  State  get 
to  be  sovereign  V9  to  which  Mr.  Calhoun  re- 
plied : 

■'The  people  of  a  State  are  a  political  unit  ; 
as  their  interests  are  unified,  homogeneous,  oru  . 
they  (the  people)  are  combined  and  solidified 
into  what  is  simply  a  larger  individuality,  and 
their  individual  sovereignty  is  transferred  into 
a  unified  political  or  State  sovereignty,  making 


JOHN  C  CALHOUN.  L57 

the  State  itself  sovereign  within  its  own  lines; 

but  its  sovereignty  cannot  be  extended  beyond 
its  own  boundaries.  The  problem  which  the 
framers  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  in  their 
efforts  to  institute  acommon  agent  to  act  as  the 
servant  of  the  sovereign  States,  had  to  solve, 
was,  how  to  create  a  government  which  would 
answer  the  purpose  of  the  States  without 
impairing  their  sovereignty  ;  in  other  words, 
how  to  secure  the  services  of  an  efficient  ser- 
vant, and  at  the  same  time  impose  such  condi- 
tions that  their  servant  would  not  and  could 
not  become  their  master.  Hence,  in  the 
Federal  Compact  or  Constitution,  they  carefully 
defined  and  limited  the  powers  which  they  con- 
f erred  upon  or  delegated  to  their  common  agenl 
and  expressly  reserved  to  themselves  all  powers 
not  specifically  delegated  ;  and  no  power  can  be 
exercised  by  their  common  agent,  the  Federal 
Government,  unless  it  is  specifically  granted  in 
the  Federal  Compact,  which  gives  it  all  tin.4 
power  if  has.     Therefore,  if  this  common  agent, 


158  GREAT    SENATORS. 

the  Federal  Government,  goes  beyond  the  scope 
of  its  agreement  with  its  employers  (the  sover- 
eign States),  its  action  is  not  binding  upon  its 
employers,  bul  is  void,  and  may  be  repealed 
or  nullified  by  fchem.  In  fact,  the  compact  is 
broken  by  such- usurpation  on  the  part  of  the 
common  agent,  and  any  State  which,  in  its  own 
judgment,  is  injured  or  oppressed  by  such 
unconstitutional  action,  may,  at  its  own  will 
and  pleasure,  recede  from  the  original  compact 
or  agreement,  and  secede  from  the  Onion." 

Here  Ave  have  stated  in  an  offhand,  collo- 
quial way,  the  famous  State  Rights  or  Secession 
doctrine,  which  led  to  our  late  war,  and  cost 
many  lives  and  much  money. 

III.  The  Secession   Doctrine  originallv  not 
\  South  ( '  lrolina,  but  a   Massachu- 
setts heresy. 

The  popular  notion  is  that  the  State   Rights, 

ion,  or  Disunion  doctrine  was  originated 

b)  Calhoun  and  was  a  South  Carolina  heresy. 


.JOHN  C.  CALHOUN.  l.V.i 

Bui  that  popular  notion  is  wrong.  According 
to  the  best  information  I  have  been  aide  to 
acquire  on  the  subject,  the  State  Rights  or 
Secession  doctrine,  was  originated  by  Josiah 
Quincy,  and  was  a  Massachusetts  heresy. 

In  1811,  a  bill  for  the  admission  of  what  was 
then  called  the  Orleans  Territory  (now  the 
State  of  Louisiana)  into  the  Union  as  a  State, 
was  under  discussion  in  the  House  of  Kepre- 
sentatives.  Josiah  Quincy,  of  Massachusetts, 
and  many  of  his  colleagues,  opposed  the  measure 
on  the  ground  that  Congress  hadn't  the  consti- 
tutional power  to  admit  into  the  Union  a  for- 
eign people  or  State,  whose  territory  was  not 
a  part  of  the  original  national  domain  at  the 
time  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  and  the 
formation  of  the  Union  consummated.  Mr. 
Quincy  declared  that  if  the  bill  was  passed,  and 
Orleans  (now  Louisiana)  were  admitted,  the  act 
would  be  subversive  of  the  Union,  and  the 
several  States  would  be  freed  from  their  federal 
bonds  and  obligations,  "and  that,  as  it  will  be 


160  GREAT    SENATORS. 

the  right  of  all,  [the  States,]  so  it  will  be  the 
duty  of  some,  to  prepare  definitely  for  a  separa- 
tion—amicably if  they  can,  violently  if  they 
must." 

Mr.  Poindexter,  with  many  others,  was  so 
shocked  by  this  declaration  that  he  called  Mr. 
Quincy  to  order;  ''and,"  as  the  report  says, 
(see  Abridged  Congressional  Debates,  Vol.  IV, 
page  327,)  "Mr.  Quincy  repeated  and  justified 
the  remark  he  had  made,  which,  to  save  all 
misapprehension,  he  committed  to  writing  in 
the  following  words:  'If  this  bill  passes,  it  is 
my  deliberate  opinion  that  it  is  virtually  a  dis- 
solution of  the  Union  ;  that  it  will  free  the 
States  from  their  moral  obligation,  and  as  it 
will  be  the  light  of  all,  so  it  will  be  the  duty  of 
some,  definitely  t>>  prepare  for  a  separation, 
amicably  if  they  can,  violently  if  they  must/" 

The  Speaker,  Joseph  B.  Varnum,  of  Massa- 
chusetts,  ruled  that  the  last  clause  of  -Mi-. 
Quincy's  remarks  was  unparliamentary  and  out 
of    order,       Mr.    Quincy    appealed    from    the 


John  C.  CALHOUN.  ir,l 

Speaker's  decision,  and  his  appeal  was  sustained 
by  a  vote  of  56  to  53.  Thus  it  was  decided  by 
the  House  of  Representatives,  under  the  lead  of 
one  of  the  most  enlightened  and  patriotic  sons 
of  Massachusetts,  that  it  was  parliamentary 
and  proper  to  discuss  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  and  to  maintain  that  in  case  of  a  certain 
specified  contingency  it  would  be  the  right  of 
all  the  States,  and  the  duty  of  some  of  them, 
definitely  to  prepare  for  a  separation,  amicably 
if  they  could,  violently  if  they  must.  Is  not 
this  the  complete  and  exact  logical  sum  and 
outcome  of  Calhoun's  theory,  as  just  given  ? 

The  extraordinary  scene  in  which  Mr.  Quincy 
thus  played  the  leading  role,  occurred  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  on  the  14th  day  of 
January,  1811.  Calhoun  did  not  take  his  seat 
in  that  House  until  the  4th  day  of  the  ensuing 
November.  He  was  then  twenty-nine  years  old. 
What  his  convictions  were  at  that  time  as  to 
the  right  of  secession  we  have  a  brief  but  sig- 
nificant indication.     On  the  2Gth  day  of  Novem- 


[flg  GREAT    SENATORS. 

her,  L811,  when  war  with  Great  Britain  was 
becoming  imminent,  Calhoun  submitted  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  a  report  on  Foreign 
Relations,  in  which  occurred  the  following 
memorable  passage,  two  words  of  which  I  shall 
take  the  liberty  of  italicising  : 

"  If  we  have  not  rushed  to  the  field  of  battle 
like  the  nations  who  are  led  by  the  mad  am- 
bition of  a  single  chief  or  the  avarice  of  a 
corrupted  court,  it  has  not  proceeded  from  a 
fear  of  war,  but  from  our  love  of  justice  and 
humanity.  That  proud  spirit  of  liberty  and 
independence,  which  sustained  our  fathers  in 
the  successful  assertion  of  their  liberties  against 
foreign  aggression,  is  not  yel  sunk.  The  patri- 
otic fire  of  the  Revolution  still  burns  in  the 
American  breasl  with  a  holy  inextinguishable 
flame,  and  wil]  conducl  this  nation  to  those 
high  destinies,  which  are  nol  less  the  reward  of 
dignified  moderation,  than  of  exalted  valor." 

This  passage  was  widely  published  at  the 
time,  and  deservedly  gave  greal  prestige  to  Cal- 


JOHN  c.  CALHOUN.  L63 

houn's  name  ;  but  the  present  reader  (if  he  be 
an  observing  one)  will  probably  be  most  struck 
by  the  fact  that  in  it  Calhoun,  with  his  own 
hand  (and  not  by  means  of  a  mistaken  report- 
er's hand),  wrote  "this  nation"  instead  of 
"  this  Union."  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  he 
had  not  then  adopted  the  disunion  or  secession 
doctrines  which  had  been  broached  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  ten  months  before,  by  Josiah 
Quincy,  of  Massachusetts. 

Two  years  afterwards,  on  January  8th,  1813, 
(see  page  65G  of  the  same  Volume  of  Debates,) 
Henry  Clay  taunted  Quincy  and  his  associates 
with  their  "  plot  to  dismember  the  Union,"  and, 
referring  to  Quincy's  declaration,  made  two 
years  before,  exclaimed  :  "The  gentleman  can- 
not have  forgotten  his  own  sentiment;  uttered 
even  on  the  floor  of  this  House,  '  Peaceably  if 
we  can,  forcibly  if  we  must  !' " 

Thirty-three  years  after  Josiah  Quincy  had 
thus  taken  the  lead  in  advocating  the  doctrine 
of  disunion  and  secession,  to  wit,  in  1844,  when 


164  GREAT  SENAT0R8. 

the  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  was 
agitating  the  country,  another  distinguished  son 

of  Massachusetts,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  then 
a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
followed  up  Mr.  Quincy's  lead,  by  introducing 
a  resolution  embodying  the  doctrine  so  long 
before  initiated  by  Mr.  Quincy  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  Mr.  Adams's  resolution 
declared  in  almost  the  same  words  that  had 
been  used  by  Mr.  Quincy  in  the  debate  on  the 
admission  of  Louisiana,  that  the  General  Gov- 
ernment has  not  the  constitutional  power  to 
unite  an  independent  foreign  state  with  the 
United  States,  as  no  such  power  had  been  dele- 
gated to  it.  and  that  "the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts,  faithful  to  the  compact  between 

the  j pie  of  the  Tinted   states,  according  to 

the  plain  meaning  and  inteni  in  which  it  was 
understood  and  acceded  fco  by  them,  is  sincerely 
anxious  for  its  preservation,  and  thai  it  is  deter- 
mined, as  il  doubts  not  other  States  are,  to 
submii    to  undelegated    Powers  in  no  body  of 


JOHN     C.     CALHOUN.  p;;, 

men  on  earth  ;  and  that  the  project  of  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  unless  resisted  on  the 
threshold,  may  tend  to  drive  these  States  into  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union." 

CalhOun  could  not  ask  for  any  better  doctrine 
of  disunion  and  secession  than  was  presented 
in  that  resolution,  and  that  resolution  was 
adopted  by  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts, 
under  the  lead  of  Charles  Francis  Adams  who, 
four  years  afterwards,  was  the  Free- soil  candi- 
date for  the  Vice-Presidency  of  that  Union 
whose  possible  dissolution  he  so  calmly  contem- 
plated in  184J:.  I  do  not  present  these  facts  for 
the  purpose  of  making  out  a  condemnatory  case 
against  Massachusetts.  That  magnificent  old 
Commonwealth  can  stand  the  truth  ;  and  so 
can  her  illustrious  sons.  The  truth  is  that  in 
times  of  wild  excitement,  when  we  were  all 
running  at  the  eyes  and  nose  with  political  influ- 
enza and  frothing  at  the  mouth  with  sectional 
madness,  it  was  customary  for  all  sorts  of 
people  to  talk  glibly  about  disunion,  and  about 


106  CKKAT     SENATORS. 

"letting  the  South  go."  Even  Charles  Sumner 
said:  "If  they  will  only  go,  we  will  build  a 
bridge  of  gold  for  them  to  go  over  on.''  We 
didn't  know  how  dear  to  our  hearts  the  Union 
was  until  it  was  assailed  by  hostile  arms,  and 
we  were  in  immediate  danger  of  losing  it. 

It  is  possible  that  Calhoun's  adulatory 
admirers  will  not  thank  me  for  defending  him 
against  what  they  may  consider  one  of  his 
strongest  claims  upon  their  admiration  ;  but  it 
is  due  to  the  spirit  of  justice  and  fair  play  that 
the  truth  of  this  matter  should  be  presented. 
Ever  since  I  can  remember  anything  about 
public  affairs,  Calhoun  has  been  anathematised 
and  vituperated  with  venomous  auimqsityasthe 
one  man,  the  only  man  responsible  for  the  prev- 
alence of  disunion  and  sect— ion  doctrines.  I 
zealously  joined  in  the  outcry  against  him  for 
years,  and  hated  his  very  name  until  1  became 
acquainted  with  him  and  with  the  facts.  J  have 
no  intention  now  of  attempting  to  exonerate 
him  from  the  responsibilities  which  he  incurred 


JOHN    c.    CALHOUN.  167 

by  his  political  course,  but  I  do  wish  to 
fcreal  him  fairly.  And  for  that  purpose  I  wish 
fairly  to  apportion  the  responsibility  for  the 
original  insemination  of  the  public  mind  with 
the  doctrines  of  disunion  and  secession  ;  and 
without  intending  disrespect  to  any  State  or  any 
statesmen  by  the  application  of  an  old  adage  to 
the  case,  I  insist  that  what  is  sauce  for  the 
South  Carolina  goose  is  also  sauce  for  the 
Massachusetts  gander. 

Inasmuch  as  the  doctrines  of  disunion  and 
secession  have  became  obsolete,  and  the  course 
of  events  has  determined  that  we  are  a  Nation, 
and  a  Nation  with  a  big  N,  I  will  not  give  Web- 
ster's refutation  of  the  doctrines,  but  will  dismiss 
the  subject  with  a  simple  recurrence  to  the 
remark  which  introduced  it,  namely  :  Calhoun's 
declaration  that  it  annoyed  him  to  have  report- 
ers represent  him  as  calling  the  United  States  a 
Nation  instead  of  a  Union.  After  the  exposi- 
tion which  has  been  given  of  the  great  South 
Carolinian's    views,    the    reader     will    readily 


168  GREAT   SKXATORS. 

understand  why  such  a  misrepresentation  of  his 

language  was  so  annoying  to  Calhoun. 

IV.  Calhoun's    Views   on  the  Education   of 
Boys— His  Opinion  of  General  Jackson. 

During  the  interview  on  New  Year's  Day, 
1849,  the  value  of  phonography  as  an  educa- 
tional instrument  came  under  discussion,  and 
Calhoun  branched  off  into  educational  methods 
generally.  He  contrasted  Southern  with  North- 
ern education,  and  thought  that  the  people  of 
the  North  were  fundamentally  wrong  as  to  their 
notions  on  the  subject.  He  said  they  cultivated 
the  intellect  almost  exclusively,  to  the  neglect 
of  everything  else,  and  especially  to ythe  neglect 
of  the  body.  It  will  be  seen  from  Calhoun's 
account  of  the  training  of  South  Carolina  boys 
that  it  differed  somewhat  from  the  training  of 
Georgia  boys,  according  to  the  statement  i  1 
Alexander  H.  Stephens,  given  ;it  the  close  of 
the  preceding  chapter. 

"Loot    at    thai     box."    he    said,    nodding 


JOHN     c.    CALHOUN.  L69 

towards  Master  Murphy,  who  was  small  in 
stature,  but  had  a  Large  and  finely  developed 
head,  and  a  countenance  indicating  unusual 
intellectual  culture  in  one  so  young  : — "  Loot  at 
thai  hoy,  with  the  body  of  a  child  and  the  head 
of  a  man.  He  looks  as  intellectual  as  a  college 
professor,  and  yet  see  how  deficient  he  is  in 
strength  and  physical  toughness.  In  South 
Carolina,  instead  of  pushing  a  boy  of  his  age  in 
his  studies,  we  would  have  him  riding  horses, 
leaping  fences  and  shooting  squirrels.  We 
would  build  up  his  body  before  we  set  his  brain 
at  work.  As  soon  as  he  became  robust  and- 
hardy,  his  head  could  take  care  of  itself.  A 
people  who  train  their  children  and  youth,  gen- 
<  ration  after  generation,  as  that  boy  has  been 
trained,  may  become  brilliant  in  intellectual 
development  and  profound  in  the  learning  of 
the  schools,  but  they  will  Lose  their  grip  on  mat- 
ters of  public  and  practical  importance  and  have 
to  take  an  inferior  position  as  to  great  questions 
and  greal  affairs." 


170  GREAT     SENATORS. 

The  South  Carolina  method  of  educating 
boys,  as  it  was  set  forth  by  Calhoun,  reminds 
one  of  the  old  Persian  custom  of  teaching  their 
youth  l%  to  ride  on  horseback,  shoot  arrows,  and 
speak  the  truth." 

In  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  I  have 
sometimes  wondered,  if  Calhoun  had  lived  fif- 
teen years  longer,  if  he  would  still  have  believed 
that  the  North  was  running  to  seed  through 
excessive  intellectual  culture,  while  the  South, 
owing  to  what  he  considered  its  better  methods 
of  education,  was  getting  a  firmer  and  more 
tenacious  grip  on  public  and  important  practical 
matters,  and  so  gravitating  to  a  superior 
''position  as  to  great  questions  and  great 
affairs." 

A  little  while  before  the  interview  termin- 
ated, I  asked  Mr.  Calhoun  whai  kind  of  a  man 
Genera]  Jackson  was.  The  effect  of  the 
question  upon  him  made  a  profound  impression 
upon  me.  Had  I  nol  been  so  young  and  inex- 
p  rienced,  I  would  not — I  could  not  have  asked 


JOHN    C.     CALHOUN.  171 

him  such  a  question.  It  did  not  occur  to  me 
that  he  and  Jackson  had  been  inexpressibly 
bitter  and  relentless  foes  for  many  years.  As 
soon  as  the  question  was  put,  Calhoun  sank 
into  profound  quiescence,  seemed  to  be  uncon- 
scious of  my  presence,  and  was  apparently 
absorbed  in  introspective  memories.  Then  his 
relations  to  Jackson  flashed  vividly  into  my 
mind  ;  I  was  appalled  at  my  blunder,  and 
awaited  the  result  with  trepidation.  Calhoun's 
revery  continued  but  a  short  time.  Soon  he 
looked  at  me  benignantly,  and  said  : 
"  General  Jackson  was  a  great  man." 
The  surpassingly  beautiful  expression  of  Cal- 
houn's luminous  eyes  and  the  sweet,  gentle  tone 
of  his  voice,  as  he  thus  answered  my  question, 
are  now  present  with  me,  as  I  write,  although 
that  answer  was  given  more  than  forty  years 
ago.  It  seemed  as  though,  in  his  brief,  absorb- 
ing revery,  he  hnd  reviewed  and  passed  judg- 
ment upon  his  relations  with  General  Jackson. 
The  general  was  in  his  grave,  and  he  was  him- 


172  GREAT    SENATORS 

self  beginning  to  be  enveloped  with  the  shadow 
of  death.  Why  should  he,  a  dying  man,  con- 
tinue to  hate  him  who  was  already  dead  ?  He 
would  not  continue  to  hate  him.  It  seemed  as 
though  this,  or  something  equivalent  to  it, 
passed  through  Calhoun's  mind,  and  touched 
the  inmost  nobility  of  his  nature,  and  caused 
him  to  give  the  answer  which  came  from  him 
like  a  renunciation  of  all  his  animosity  and  an 
assertion  of  spiritual  reconciliation  with  his  dead 
foe. 

V.  Calhoun's  Quarrel  with  General  Jack- 
son, AND  ITS  RESULT. 

AlS  !  became  better  acquainted  with  Calhoun, 

T  liked  him  better.  At  last,  I  had  a  genuine 
affection  for  him,  and  mourned  over  what 
seemed  to  me  to  have  been  his  political  deca- 
dence ;  and  1  have  mourned  over  it  to  this  hour. 
No  young  man  on  this  continenl  ever  started  on 
a  public  farter  with  brighter,  nobler  promise 
than  did  thai  gifted,  pure-souled  young  South 


JOHN     (  .    CALHOUN.  I  7;; 

Carolinian.  Ee  was  born  in  L782 — the  same 
year  in  wliich  Benton,  Webster,  Martin  Van 
Buren  and  General  Cass  were  born— Clay  being 
five  years  his  senior.  He  entered  Congress  in 
L811  and  immediately  rose  to  distinction.  He 
had  a  convincing  and  attractive  way  of  express- 
ing his  ideas  with  both  tongue  and  pen. 

The  paragraph  I  have  given  from  his  report 
on  Foreign  Relations  shows  what  a  captivating 
style  he  had.  Whatever  he  did  or  said  was 
popular.  During  the  war  of  1812,  and  down  to 
the  period  of  his  Vice-Presidency  in  Jackson's 
first  term  (1829),  Calhoun's  course  was  patriotic, 
brilliant  and  beneficent.  He  was  as  popular  in 
the  North  as  in  the  South.  He  was  an  especial 
favorite  in  New  England  ;  a  fact  which  seems 
strange  to  us  now.  He  was  elected  Vice-Presi- 
dent in  1824,  when  no  other  candidate  was 
elected  by  the  people  ;  the  contest  for  the  Presi- 
dency being  thrown  into  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, and  resulting  in  the  election  of  John 
Quincy  Adams.     After  Calhoun's  re-election  as 


174  GREAT    SENATORS. 

Vice  President,  on  the  Jackson  ticket,  in  L828, 
he  was  in  the  direct  line  of  the  Democratic  suc- 
cession to  the  Presidency.  Bui  there  came  a 
fatal  quarrel  between  him  and  Old  Hickory 
Jackson,  and  all  chance  of  his  further  national 
preferment  was  immediately  and  forever  blight- 
ed. The  cause  of  thisquarre]  was  the  disclosure 
of  the  fact  thai  in  L819  Calhoun,  while  Secretary 
of  War  in  Monroe's  first  Administration,  had 
filed  an  opinion  condemning  Jackson's  course  in 
Florida. 

It  will  be  remembered  thai  at  that  time 
Florida  was  owned  by  Spain  ;  that  the  Span- 
iards incited  the  Indians  to  murder  the  Ameri- 
can settlers  in  Alabama  and  Georgia,  and  thai 
there  were  British  emissaries  helping  the  S)»;in 
iards  in  tins  nefarious  work  ;  thai  Jackson. 
then  a  major-general  in  the  United  States  army 
and  commander  of  the  Southern  division  of  it, 
•  •in  in  the  decile  of  thf  out  rages  to  pacifi 
<-,ii«'  affairs  and  protect  his  countrymen,  and 
wiih     ilic    understanding    that,    although    the 


JOHN  c.  CALHOUN.  175 

Government  did  not  wish  to  appear  before  the 
world  as  countenancing  extreme  measures,  it 
would    wink  at  any   means  of  pacification  to 

which  the  con  in  lauding  general  should  find  it 
necessary  to  resort;  that  General  Jackson,  on 
arriving  at  the  theatre  of  operations  and  finding 
an  out  rageous  state  of  affairs,  began  the  work 
of  Opacification"  with  his  accustomed  energy, 
hung  two  British  emissaries — Arbuthnot  and 
Ambrister — stormed  some  of  the  Spanish  fortifi- 
cations, and  soon  brought  a  state  of  Jacksonian 
peace  and  safety  to  pass.  Jackson's  proceedings 
of  course  excited  the  wrath  of  the  British  and 
the  Spaniards,  and  threatened  to  involve  the 
United  States  in  Avar  with  both  Spain  and  Greal 
Britain.  His  conduct  was  severely  censured  in 
Congress,  and  it  was  made  to  appear  that  he 
had  acted  without  any  warrant  whatever  from 
the  Government  for  Ins  violent  course.  This 
injustice  aroused  the  old  warrior  to  ungovern- 
able fury,  and  lie  threatened  to  go  t«>  Washing- 
ton and  cut  off  the  ears  of  Congressmen   who 


176  GREAT    8ENAT0R& 

maligned  him.  The  Administration  was  called 
upon  to  discipline  the  belligerent  general,  and 
Presidenl  Monroe  asked  for  written  opinions  on 
the  case  from  the  members  of  his  Cabinet. 
The  opinions  were  handed  in,  and  .-ill  of  them, 
excepl  Calhoun's,  were  in  Jackson's  favor. 

Those  Cabinel  opinions  were  under  the  seal 
of  official  secrecy,  and  nobody  outside  of  the 
A< In i initiation  knew  what  they  were.  But 
Jackson  in  some  way  got  the  idea  firmly  fixed 
in  his  mind  that  Calhoun  was  the  member  of 
the  Cabinet  who  took  the  lead  in  defending  him 
on  thai  critical  occasion.  That  made  Jackson 
Calhoun's  devoted  friend,  and  caused  him  to  do 
everything  lie  could  to  secure  his  advancement. 
It  may  be  imagined,  therefore,  Avh.it  a  shock 
the  disclosure  of  the  truth  was  to  ( )ld  Hickory. 
and  with  what  rage  it  filled  him.  He  imme- 
diately casl  off  Calhoun  as  a  traitor  and  hypo- 
crite, and  swore  everlasting  vengeance  against 
him. 

I  low  this  disclosure,  which  was  so  disasl  ions 


JOHN  C.  CALHOUN.  177 

to    Calhoun,    happened    to  be    made,    nobody 

seems  to  know  with  absolute  certainty.  Differ- 
ent explanations  of  it,  some  of  them  very 
elaborate,  have  been  published.  When  I  firsi 
went  to  Washington,  in  L848,  the  matter  was 
still  a  topic  for  gossip  and  discussion,  and  there 
were  hundreds  of  people  who  had  gone  through 
the  excitement  and  turmoil  it  occasioned,  and 
supposed  they  knew  all  about  it.  The  general 
run  of  gossip  on  the  subject  was  that  if  the 
Peggy  O'Neil  scandal  and  controversy  had  not 
occin  red,  the  Calhoun  disclosure  would  not 
have  been  made.  Peggy  O'Neil  was  the  hand- 
some daughter  of  a  Washington  tavern-keeper, 
who  married  Purser  Timberlake  of  the  United 
States  navy.  Timberlake  died,  and  his  widow 
was  wooed  and  won  by  General  John  H.  Eaton, 
of  Tennessee,  who  was  Jackson's  intimate 
friend,  and  was  appointed  Secretary  of  War  in 
Jackson's  first  Cabinet.  And  thus  Peggy  ( >'Neil 
blossomed  out  into  "  a  Cabinet  lady,"  and  was 
eligible  to  the  highest  society  in  Washington. 


[78  GREAT    SENATORS. 

Unfortunately,  there  had  been  derogatory 
rumors  aboul  her  while  she  was  Mrs.  Timber- 
lake.  Her  husband  was  absenl  al  sea  for  man} 
months,  and  she,  being  attractive  and  full  of 
" the  spirit  of  society,"  received  a  good  deal  of 
attention  from  officers  of  the  army  and  navy. 
She  was  talked  aboul  in  an  unpleasant  way,  and 
had  to  pay  the  penalty  which  is  exacted  from 
every  handsome  woman  who  accepts  too  much 
Ik >niage  from  other  women's  husbands  while 
her  own  husband  is  absent. 

Gossip  became  still  more  rife  and  acrimoni- 
ous when  General  Eaton  married  the  widow 
Timberlake  ;  and  when,  by  his  becoming  Secre- 
tary of  War,  she  became  "a  Cabinel  lady,"  the 
wives  of  other  members  of  the  Cabinel  felt  that 
a  Mow  had  been  si  ruck  at  the  honor  and  presl  ige 
of  their  sacred  society  circle.  They  me1  the 
impending  calamity  with  Spartan  resolution. 
They  announced  thai  they  would  have  no  social 
relations  whatever  with  Mrs.  Eaton  n€e  O'Neil. 
They    would   not    receive  calls  from   her;  they 


JOHN  ('.  CALHOUN.  171) 

would  not  make  calls  on  her;  they  would  not 
grace  with  their  presence  any  socia]  entertain- 
ment which  she  was  permitted  to  attend.  As 
they  were  upheld  by  their  lady  friends,  Mrs. 
Eaton  was  in  effect  excluded  from  society. 
The  action  of  the  Cabinet  ladies  was  a  social 
thunder  clap.  It  occasioned  a  prodigious  sensa- 
tion. General  Jackson  was  frantic  with  indig- 
nation and  rage  at  the  insult  to  the  wife  of  his 
bosom  friend,  General  Eaton,  and  swore,  by 
the  Eternal,  that  she  should  be  received  by  the 
other  Cabinet  ladies.  The  contention  convulsed 
society.  As  the  contest  went  on,  it  been  me 
apparent  that  for  once  Old  Hickory  had  found 
his  match.  He  bad  conquered  the  British  and 
the  Spaniards  and  numberless  Indian  tribes, 
but  he  could  not  conquer  one  little  tribe  of 
white  women.  He  was  worsted  in  the  fight, 
and  other  annoying  complications  being  drawn 
into  the  social  and  political  swirl,  the  Cabinet 
was  re-organized,  Greneral  Eaton  going  out  of 


L80  GREAT    SENATORS. 

office,    and    Mrs.    Eaton  going    out  of    public 
imt  ice. 

It  happened  thai  the  husbands  of  the  ladies 

wl rganized  this  social  war  were  all  particular 

friends  to  Calhoun.  They  were  in  fact  known 
as  "The  Calhoun  members  of  the  Cabinet." 
General  Jackson,  animated  by  his  gratitude  for 
Calhoun's  supposed  loyally  to  him  when  his 
enemies  wore  seeking  to  destroy  him  in  L819, 
had  generously  given  three  of  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent's partisans  places  in  the  Cabinet  :  and  it 
was  the  wives  of  those  three  Cabinet  offic< 
who  instigated  the  crusade  against  the  wife  of 
the  President's  friend.  And  it  was  said  that  it 
was  to  punish  Calhoun,  and  his  set,  that  his 
opinion,  hostile  to  Jackson,  was  unearthed  and 
brought  to  light.  I  had  several  conversations 
on  the  subjeel  with  a  sod  of  one  of  the  Calhoun 
Cabinet  officers.  Be  had  heard  his  father  and 
mother  and  their  friends  discuss  the  matter  a 
myriad  times.  They  cherished  an  absolute  con- 
viction thai  the  divulgation  of  Calhoun's  opinion 


JOHN  c.  CALHOUN.  1^1 

was  purposely  made  by  the  friends  of  Genera] 
Eaton  to  avenge  Mrs.  Eaton's  wrongs.  But  this 
belief  was  not  universal.  Many  saw  a  political 
manoeuvre  in  the  disclosure,  and  charged  it 
upon  Calhoun's  political  rivals.  Van  Buren's 
enemies  saw  his  cunning  hand  in  it;  Calhoun 
believed  that  Van  Buren  was  the  author  of  the 
disclosure;  and  color  was  lent  to  his  belief  by 
the  fact  that  Van  Buren  was  the  chief  gainer  by 
the  rupture  between  the  President  and  Vice- 
President.  He  displaced  Calhoun  in  the  line  of 
political  succession,  and  fell  heir  to  the  Presi- 
dency, which,  previous  to  the  rupture,  was  com- 
ing straight  to  Calhoun.  This  led  to  a  lifelong 
estrangement  between  those  two  distinguished 
Democrats  ;  and  their  estrangement  led  to  the 
rejection  of  Van  Buren  as  a  Presidential  candi- 
date by  the  Democratic  Convention  in  lSl-t,  and 
to  his  acceptance  of  the  Free-soil  nomination, 
and  the  consequent  defeat  of  General  Cass,  in 
L848,  as  narrated  in  our  first  chapter.  William 
H.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  was  also  charged  with 


L82  GREAT    SENATORS. 

fche  disclosure  of  Calhoun's  opinion,  and  so  were 
others  :  but  fche  popular  belief  ascribed  it  to  the 
retaliatory  vengeance  of  Mrs.  Eaton's  friends. 

It  is  possible  that  the  convulsions  of  the  Mrs. 
Eaton  war  indirectly  helped  to  erupt  the  Cal- 
houn opinion  from  the  secret  archives  of  the 
Cabinet,  but  thus  far  no  absolute  proof  of  the 
precise  way  in  winch  it  was  divulged  has  been 
made  public.  But  divulged  it  was,  and  the 
effect  upon  Calhoun's  political  career  was 
calamitous.  He  was  estranged  from  the  domi- 
nant members  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  as 
he  had  no  affinities  for  the  Whigs,  his  only 
resource  was  to  develop  a  party  of  his  own  ; 
and  that  heat  once  sel  aboul  doing.  How  he 
did  it.  and  what  terrible  results  came  of  it.  are 
matters  of  general  history. 

In  order  to  carry  out  his  determination  Cal- 
houn had  to  bring aboul  a  fundamental  change 
in  the  (.pinion   of  the  South  as  to  slavery.      Up 

i'»  that  time  it  was  generally  conceded  that 
slavery  was  a  moral  and  political  evil,  a  vast, 


joiin  c.  CALHOUN.  L83 

ineradicable  national  cancer  which  the  country 
musl  bear  and  suffer  under  as  best  it  might. 
Calhoun  set  at  work  to  "  correct  this  erroneous 

notion,"  and,  so  far  as  the  South  was  concerned, 
he  accomplished  his  purpose.  In  a  powerful 
speed)  which  he  made  in  the  Senate  in  1837,  on 
resolutions  with  regard  to  slavery  introduced  by 
himself,  he  said  : 

k'This  agitation  has  produced  one  happy 
effect,  at  least— it  has  compelled  us  of  the  South 
to  look  into  the  nature  and  character  of  this 
great  institution,  [slavery,]  and  to  correct  many 
false  impressions  that  even  we  had  entertained 
in  relation  to  it.  Many  in  the  South  once 
believed  that  it  was  a  moral  and  political  evil. 
Thai  folly  and  delusion  are  gone.  We  see  it 
now  in  its  true  light,  and  regard  it  as  the  most 
safe  and  stable  basis  for  free  institutions  in  the 
world.  It  is  impossible  with  us  that  the  conflict 
can  take  place  between  labor  and  capital,  which 
makes  it  so  difficult  to  establish  and  maintain 
free  institutions  in  all  wealthy  and  highly  civil- 


184  GREAT     BENATORS. 

[zed  nations,  where  such  institutions  as  ours  do 
not  exist.  The  Southern  States  are  an  aggre- 
gate, in  fact,  of  communities,  not  of  individuals. 
Every  plantation  is  a  little  community,  with  the 
master  at  its  head,  who  concentrates  in  himself 
Hi-'  united  interesl  of  capital  and  labor,  of  which 
he  is  the  common  representative.  The  small 
communities  aggregated  make  the  State  in  all, 
whose  action,  labor,  and  capital  is  equally  repre- 
sented and  perfectly  harmonised." 

In  the  course  of  this  speech,  Calhoun  said 
that  "a  mysterious  Providence  had  broughl 
together  two  races,  from  different  portions  cf 
the  globe,  and  placed  them  together  in  nearly 
equal  numbers  in  the  Southern  portion  of  tins 
Union;"  to  which  (day  replied  thai  "to  call  a 
generation  of  slave-trading  pirates  (who 
brought  the  negroes  to  this  country)  'a  mysteri- 
ous Providence,'  was  an  insult  to  the  Supreme 
Being."  Clay's  reply  was  admired,  bul  it  did 
not  lesson  the  influence  of  Calhoun's  speech  m 
the  South, 


•loil.N   C.   I   AUInlN.  L85 

VI.    Calhoun's  Fascination   in   Personal  In 

TERCOURSE. 

After  ili.it  New  Year's  day,  L849,  J  occasion- 
ally met  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  every  time  I  had  an 
opportunity  to  hear  him  converse  and  to  study 
his  character,  my  appreciation  of  him  was 
strengthened.  He  was  by  all  odds  the  mosl 
fascinating  man  in  private  intercourse  thai  I 
ever  met.  His  conversational  powers  were 
marvelous.  His  voice  was  clear,  sweet  and 
mellow,  with  a  musical,  metallic  ring  in  it  which 
gave  it  strength  without  diminishing  its  sweet- 
ness. His  pronunciation  and  enunciation  were 
perfect.  His  manner  was  simple  and  unpre- 
tentious. He  talked  on  the  most  abstruse 
subjects  with  the  guileless  simplicity  of  a 
prattling  child.  His  ideas  were  so  clear  and  his 
language  so  plain  thai  lie  made  a  path  o\'  light 
through  any  subjeel  he  discussed. 

Harriet  Mart  in  can   said,   a   dozen    or  fifteen 
years  before  the  period  (1849)  of  which  1  am 


180  GREAT    SENATORS. 

writing,  that  "  Calhoun's  mind  had  lost  the 
power  of  communicating  with  other  minds."  I 
can  understand  how  a  stranger  might  get  that 
impression  of  Calhoun.  There  were  at  least 
two  Calhouns,  perhaps  there  were  several. 
That  is  to  say,  his  ideas  and  sentiments  on 
different  subjects  were  so  differentiated,  so 
sharply  defined,  and  so  rigidly  separated  from 
one  another,  that  the  man  himself  seemed  to  be 
a  different  personage  at  different  times,  accord- 
ing to  the  question  or  subject  before  him.  His 
faculties  were  not  compacted  into  a  mental  or 
psychological  nation  ;  they  were  simply  a  con- 
federacy, and  every  one  of  them  was  a  sovereign 
faculty,  which  could  think  and  act  for  itself, 
independently  of  all  the  rest.  His  convictions 
(»n  the  subject  of  slavery  were  as  fixed  and 
unchangeable  as  an  elementary  principle  of 
nature  ;  and,  as  to  them,  his  mind  was  incapable 
of  exchanging  ideas  wit  1 1  other  minds.  That 
portion  of  his  mind  was  a  hermit,  and  it  led  a 
hermit's    existence;    and    if    Miss    Martineau 


JOHN  0.  CALHOUN.  1-7 

attempted  to  intrude  into  that  hermit's  cell,  she 
found  it  impossible  to  communicate  with  its 
occupant. 

Calhoun's  kindness  of  heart  was  inexhaust- 
ible. He  impressed  me  as  being  deeply  but 
unobtrusively  religious,  and  was  so  morally 
clean  and  spiritually  pure  that  it  was  a  pleasure 
to  have  one's  soul  get  close  to  his  soul — a  feeling 
that  I  never  had  for  any  other  man.  He 
seemed  to  exhale  an  atmosphere  of  purity, 
as  fresh  and  sweet  and  bracing  as  a  breeze  from 
the  prairie,  the  ocean,  or  the  mountain — an 
atmosphere  which  one  could  safely  breathe  all 
in  and  be  better  and  purer  from  the  inspiration. 
He  was  inexpressibly  urbane,  refined,  gentle, 
winning  ;  and  yet  he  was  strong  and  thorough- 
ly manly,  with  an  elegant  and  engaging  invin- 
cibleness  pervading  his  softness  and  gentleness. 
I  admired  Benton  ;  I  admired  Clay  still  more  ; 
I  admired  Webster,  on  the  intellectual  side, 
most  of  all ;  but  I  loved  Calhoun  ;  and  as  I 
came  to  know  him  well,  and  saw  his  exquisitely 


1SS  GREAT    SENATORS. 

beautiful  nature  mirrored  in  his  face,  his 
countenance  no  longer  seemed  Satanic,  but 
angelic,  and  his  benignant  greeting  in  the 
morning  was  like  a  benediction  that  lasted  the 
whole  day. 

It  is  believed  that  Calhoun's  political  life 
was  so  embittered  that  he  got  no  comfort  out  of 
it,  and  that  it  grew  less  and  less  satisfactory  as 
he  drew  near  its  end  ;  but  in  private  and  social 
relations  he  was  blessed  with  strongest  and 
most  disinterested  friendships,  and  his  last  days 
were  enriched  and  sweetened  by 

"  That  best  pprtion  of  a  good  man's  life, 
His  little,  nameless,  unremembered  acts 
Of  kindness  and  of  love." 


My  acquaintance,  at  the  age  when  my 
character  was  in  process  of  development  and 
formation,  with  John  C.  Calhoun  and  Jefferson 
Davis  was  of  incomputable  benefit  tome.  The 
fad    thai   of  all   the  distinguished  men  1   saw 


JOHN  C.  CALHOUN.  L89 

in  Washington,  the  two  whose  political  course 
was  the  most  obnoxious  to  me  were  the  very 
two  whom  1  most  liked  personally,  had  then 
and  alt  or  wards  a  powerful  effect  upon  my 
mind,  my  heart  and  my  life.  And  this  effect 
was  deepened  by  the  fact  that  some  of  those 
with  whose  political  principles  I  most  keenly 
sympathized  were  the  ones  whose  personal 
characters  were  the  most  distasteful  to  me. 
The  struggles  of  mind  and  the  travail  of  spirit 
which  the  conflicting  thoughts  and  emotions 
consequent  upon  such  a  state  of  things  occa- 
sioned in  me,  caused  me  to  be  born  again  as  to 
my  notions  of  public  men  and  public  affairs.  I 
learned  to  distinguish  between  a  man's  political 
principles  and  his  personal  character,  and  there 
was  developed  in  me  a  disposition  to  extend  to 
the  convictions  and  conduct  of  others  the  same 
forbearance  and  charity  which  every  man  likes 
to  have  accorded  to  his  own  conduct  and  con- 
victions. 


19U  GREAT     SENATORS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Thomas  H.  Benton. 

I.     Benton's   hatred  of  Calhoun. — The   Great 

South    Carolinian    and  the  Greaq 

m  lssourla  n   contrasted. 

Notwithstanding  Calhoun's  lovable  charac- 
ter, he  had  at  least  one  bitter  and  relentless  foe 
—Thomas  H.  Benton,  of  Missouri.  Ben! en 
was  called  the  Great  Missourian  ;  Calhoun,  the 
Greal  South  Carolinian;  and  their  natures 
differed  more  and  were  more  widely  sundered 
t  han  1  heir  respective  States.  Endeed,  ii  a\  ould 
be  difficult  to  find  two  other  co-temporary 
Americans,  of  equal  distinction,  so  absolutely 
contrasted  in  body,  mind,  principles,  tastes  and 
manners  as  were  Benton   and  Calhoun,     Cal- 


THOMAS  II.  BENTON.  191 

hoim  was  slender  and  delicate  of  frame;  P>ent<>n 
was  massive  and  muscular.  Calhoun  was 
speculative,  theoretical  and  philosophical  ;  Ben- 
ton was  matter  of-fact,  statistical  and  practical. 
Calhoun  was  sympathetic,  sensitive  and  con- 
siderate; Benton  was  cold,  hard  and  ruthless. 
To  rub  Calhoun's  nature  against  Benton's  was 
like  rubbing  the  tender  skin  of  an  infant  against 
the  corrugated  hide  of  a  rhinocerous.  And 
then  Calhoun  sought  to  destroy  the  Union, 
while  Benton  was  a  fierce  upholder  of  the 
Union.  Previous  to  his  discovery  of  Calhoun's 
ultimate  motives  in  forcing  the  doctrines  of 
State  Rights  and  the  right  of  secession  upon  the 
attention  of  the  South;  Benton  was  his  friend 
and  coadjutor,  but  as  soon  as  he  made  that 
discovery  he  began  to  dislike  him,  and  when  he 
became  convinced  that  Calhoun  would  be  glad 
to  have  the  Union  destroyed,  he  made  open 
war  upon  him  ;  and  from  that  time  the  Great 
Missourian  hated  the  Great  South  Carolinian 
with  rancorous  and  unappeasable  hatred, 


[92  GREAT    SENATORS. 

II.     How    TO    ESTIMATE    <  II  \K  \oTI.K. 

hi  estimating  a  man's  character,  and  in 
passing  judgmenl  upon  his  conduct,  we  should 
keep  in  mind  what  the  psychologists  and  bio- 
logists call  his  heredity  and  his  environment. 
According  to  the  doctrine  on  this  subject,  a 
man's  heredity,  or  inborn  nature,  com-  -  bo  him 
through  his  parents,  from  his  entire  line  of 
ancestry,  and  is  set  in  him  beyond  the  power  of 
elementary  change.  The  elements  of  character 
that  arc  born  in  him  may  be  developed  or 
withered,  but  they  can  not  be  changed  any 
more  than  the  functions  of  his  senses  can  be 
changed.  The  sense  of  seeing  cannol  be 
changed  into  the  sense  of  hearing,  nor  can  the 
passion  for  destroying  be  changed  into  the  sen- 
timent of  benevolence.  Either  of  these  elem<  d 
fcary  traits  may  l>«i  strengthened  by  cultivation 
or  weakened  by  neglect,  but  it  cannot  be 
changed  into  anything  else.  The  sum  of  one's 
character  will  depend  on  the  relative  develop 


THOMAS  11.  BENTON.  i:i:; 

incut,  neglect  or  suppression  of  its  inborn 
elements  ;  and  his  environment-  which  is  the 
sum  of  all  the  influences  which  act  upon  his 
heredity — is  the  medium  through  which  and  by 
which  the  development,  neglect,  or  suppression 
of  the  inborn  elements  is  brought  to  pass. 

A  tragic  incident  which  occurred  thirty-five 
years  ago  in  a  remote  section  of  whal  is  now- 
West  Virginia,  may  help  persons  who  are  not 
familiar  with  the  theory  of  heredity  and  envi- 
ronment, to  get  some  notion  of  it.  A  family 
named  Russell  undertook  to  domesticate  a 
young  hear  and  to  change  its  carnivorous 
heredity  into  a  herbivorous  proclivity.  Mr. 
Russell  was  an  advocate  of  vegetarianism.  He 
believed  that  most  of  the  evils  of  human  nature 
come  of  eating  too  much  meat.  He  imagined 
that  the  ferocity  of  the  carnivori  was  owing  to 
their  habitual  flesh  diet,  and  that  it  might  he 
extinguished  by  a  prolonged  course  of  vegeta- 
rian discipline.  Having  caught  an  unweaued 
bear  cub,   he  determined   to  demonstrate   the 


194  GREAT    SENATORS. 

correctness  of  his  theory.     So  the  creature  was 
fed  on  milk,  sweet  corn,  pumpkins,  berries,  and 
fruits  of  all  kinds.     It   was   not  permitted   to 
have  any  meat,     It  grew  rapidly,  and  was  so 
playful  and  amiable  it  seemed  as  though  Mr. 
Kussell's  theory  was  going  to  be  demonstrated 
beyond   all   cavil.     It   was   the   custom,   when 
evening  approached,  to  chain  the  bear  to  a  post 
on  the  lawn,  lest  it  should  wander  off  in  the 
night.     One  evening,   Mr.  Kussell's  eldest  boy, 
a  fine  lad  of  fifteen  years,  who  had  been  hunt- 
ing, came   home   with  a   string   of  birds   and 
squirrels   that  he  had   shot,      In   passing  the 
bear's  post,  the  boy  stopped  to  have  a  little  play. 
The  bear,  smelling  the  blood  of  the  birds  and 
squirrels,    attempted  to    seize    them   with   his 
teeth  :  whereupon  the  boy  struck  him  over  iln1 
nose  with  Hi*'  string  of  game.     This  awakened 
the  animal's  sleeping  heredity  ;  and  springing 
upon  the  boy  he  began  to  devour  him  before  ib<v 
eyes  of  bis  mother,  who  stood  <>n   the  piazza 
and  shrieked  for  help.     Mr.    Russell  and  several 


THOMAS  ir.   BENTON.  L95 

field  hands  hearing  her  cries,  rushed  to  the  spot, 
but  they  were  too  late  to  save  the  boy.  The 
bear  was  immediately  killed  ;  and  thus  ended 
the  attempt  to  change  the  heredity  of  a  carniv- 
orous beast  to  the  traits  of  a  herbivorous  animal, 
by  means  of  a  vegetarian  environment. 

This  doctrine  of  heredity  and  environment, 
when  rightly  understood,  explains  many  social 
phenomena  which,  without  its  aid,  are  incom- 
prehensible. For  example,  a  man  who  for 
years  has  been  trusted  by  a  whole  community 
—who  has  been  the  faithful  executor  of  many 
wills  and  the  faithful  guardian  of  many 
orphans — suddenly  runs  away  with  the  funds 
entrusted  to  his  care,  and  everybody  is  aghast 
at  the  unaccountable  occurrence.  How  could 
such  a  thing  have  happened  ?  is  the  universal 
exclamation.  It  could  happen  just  as  thai 
vegetarian  bear  could  so  unexpectedly  devour 
that  boy.  The  carnivorous  appetite  was  heredi- 
tary in  the  bear  and  manifested  itself  the 
moment  it  received  sufficient  provocation.     So. 


l:u;  GREAT    SENATORS. 

too,  the  thieving,  robbing,  defrauding  proclivity 
was  hereditary  in  that  good  man,  but  was  kept 
in  abeyance  1 » y  liis  environment  until  an  over- 
mastering opportunity  provoked  it  into  action, 
and  the  phenomenally  trustworthy  man  ran 
away  with  the  trust  money.  Any  unexpected 
outbursl  of  vice  or  break  down  of  character  on 
the  one  hand,  or  any  exhibition  of  uoble  traits 
which  a  person  was  not  suspected  of  possessing 
on  the  other  hand,  ran  be  readily  explained  by 
the  application  of  this  theory.  In  fact,  it 
covers  the  entire  range  of  the  development  of 
human  character  ;  and  now  lei  us  sec  how  it 
works  in  explaining  the  personal  characteristics 
of  ( Jolonel  Benton. 

III.  Benton's  Character. 

Benton's  heredity,  both  as  to  physique  and 
mentality,  was  peculiar  and  striking.  He  was 
born  with  characteristics  resembling  those  of 
the  bear,  the  1  n 1 1 1  and  the  eagle.  U<i  was 
ferocious,  brave,  keen-sight<  d  and  high-soarine:. 


THOMAS  i(.  BENTON.  [97 

In  mind,  dignity  and  patriotism  he  was  a 
Roman  Senator  of  the  highest  type;  and  in 
physique,  temper  and  ferocity  lie  was  a  Roman 
gladiator,  who  somehow  had  become  Imbedded 
in  the  nineteenth  century.  He  had  Large  bones, 
which  were  covered  with  thick  and  hard  mus- 
cles. He  was  about  five  feet  and  ten  inches  in 
height,  had  broad  shoulders,  a  deep  chest,  large 
hips  aud  strong  limbs.  His  head,  which  was  of 
great  size,  was  largest  at  the  base.  All  the 
animal  propensities,  especially  those  which  give 
cunning  and  courage,  were  powerfully  devel- 
oped. His  courage  was  so  predominant  and 
combative,  that  he  seldom  cared  to  resort  to 
cunning  to  compass  his  ends  ;  but  when  he  did 
undertake  to  play  Indian,  no  savage  that  ever 
infested  the  wilderness  could  cope  with  him. 

His  organs  of  observation  were  large  and 
active,  and  his  firmness  and  self-esteem  were  so 
prominently  developed  that  his  massive  head 
ran  up  to  a  peak  like  the  Island  of  Teneriffe. 
His  countenance    was    romanesque,  with    the 


198  GREAT    SENATORS. 

blended  expression  of  the  eagle  and  the  li<  »n.  It- 
is  doubtful  if  we  ever  had  a  man  in  public  life, 
in  America,  equal  to  Colonel  Benton  in  physical 
strength,  endurance  and  courage,  in  toughness 
and  elasticity  of  constitution,  and  in  mental  and 
moral  fortitude.  There  have  been  men  who 
equalled,  and  perhaps  excelled  him  in  some  of 
these  qualities,  but  nobody  else  has  exhibited 
such  an  admirable  combination  of  them  all. 

Benton's  early  training,  and  in  fad  the 
environment  of  all  the  first  half  of  his  life,  was 
such  as  would  bring  all  his  natural  traits  to 
their  fullest  development.  He  was  born  in 
L782,  in  an  obscure  hamlet  in  North  Carolina. 
When  lie  was  eight  years  old  his  father  died, 
and  his  widowed  mother  removed  to  Tennessee. 
He  had  little  opportunity  to  go  to  school,  hut  he 
studied  hard  at  home  in  the  evening,  after  the 
day's  duties  had  been  done.  Fortunately,  his 
mother  was  a  refined,  pious,  ( rod-fearing  woman, 
who  broughl  up  her  fatherless  children  in  the 
nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,     Benton's 


THOMAS  II.   BENTON.  [99 

religion,  though  it  modi  lied  his  heredity,  could 
qoI  change  it.  He  was  a  robust  and  ferocious 
Christian — just  the  kind  for  his  day  and  gener- 
ation. A.s  he  grew  to  manhood,  he  was  more  or 
less  engaged  in  fighting  Indians  and  wild  beasts 
and  half -wild  neighbors.  After  a  time  he  stud- 
ied law  and  entered  the  slightly  more  civilized 
arena  of  the  bar,  where  foes  did  not  tomahawk 
and  scalp,  but  only  knifed  and  pistolled  one 
another.  In  that  wild  life,  the  great  law  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest  was  inexorably  supreme  ; 
and  the  fittest,  of  course,  meant  the  fittest  for 
that  kind  of  life.  Benton  was  one  of  the  fittest. 
He  survived  and  thrived  ;  he  even  survived  a 
desperate  personal  encounter  with  Old  Hickory 
Jackson  in  the  streets  of  Nashville  ;  and  so  far 
as  I  know  he  was  the  only  man  that  ever  did 
survive  a  personal  fight  with  Old  Hickory. 

In  1S15  Benton  went  to  Missouri,  then  a 
Territory,  inhabited  by  a  fierce  population, 
where  his  fights  continued,  with  the  usual 
result.     What  that   result  was  may  be  inferred 


£00  GREAT    SENATORS. 

from  a  declaration  he  made  in  the  Senate,  after 
a  Senator  had  referred  to  what  lie  called  "a  quar- 
rel" of  Benton's.  kk  Mr.  President,  sir,"  said 
t he  ( rreal  Missourian  sternly,  "the  Senator  is 
mistaken,  sir.  I  never  quarrel,  sir  ;  butlsome- 
times  fight,  sir;  and  whenever  I  fight,  sir,  a 
funeral  follows,  sir  !" 

Mi --Mini  was  admitted  to  the  Union  in  1820, 
and  Benton  was  at  once  elected  United  Stales 
Senator  from  that  State,  and  took  his  seat  in 
March,  L821.  He  was  re-elected  four  times  in 
succession,  and  so  served  as  Senator  thirty  years 
continuously,  his  last  term  expiring  March  3rd, 
L851.  When  he  entered  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate, he  was  within  a  few  days  of  his  fortieth 
year  and  his  character  had  been  formed  and 
iixed.  W'Jial  that  character  was,  the  reader 
can  imagine,  if  he  will  recall  to  mind  whal 
Benton's  heredity  was,  and  how  it  had 
been  acted  upon  and  developed  by  his  whole 
hard,  struggling,  wild,  contentious  life.  And 
in  passing  judgmenl  upon  a  man's  life,  we  must 


THOMAS     II.     BENTON.  201 

remember  that  lie  is  to  be  judged  according  to 

his  character  and  not  according  to  our  character, 
according  to  the  time  in  which  he  lived  and  not 
according  to  the  time  in  which  we  live,  and 
according  to  the  circumstances  which  environed 
him  and  not  according  to  those  which  surround 
us. 

Benton,  as  I  have  said,  was  a  Roman  gladi- 
ator in  body  and  temper.  It  was  his  custom  to 
bathe  and  scrub  down  his  body  to  his  hips  every 
morning,  and  from  his  hips  to  his  feet  every 
afternoon.  The  implement  he  used  was  the 
roughest  kind  of  n,  horsehair  brush  ;  and  with 
this  his  body  servant  would  curry  him  down 
with  all  his  might.  A  friend,  who  saw  the 
brush,  shook  his  head  over  it,  whereupon  Ben- 
ton grimly  said  :  "  Why,  sir,  if  I  were  to  touch 
you  with  that  brush,  sir,  you  would  cry  murder, 
sir."  On  being  asked  why  he  thus  scrubbed 
half  of  his  body  in  the  morning  and  the  other 
half  in  the  afternoon,  he  replied  :  "  The  Roman 
gladiators  did  it,  sir."     Under  this  treatment. 


202  GREAT    SENATORS. 

his  skin  had  become  a  sheath  of  leather,  devoid 
of  sensibility,  and  shutting  him  oul  from  sym- 
pathy with  the  sensibilities  of  others.  Meta- 
phorically, as  well  as  physically,  he  was  prob- 
ably the  thickest  skinned  man  of  his  time. 
This  enabled  him  to  go  scathless  through 
contests  from  which  others  would  come  oul 
with  sorely  wounded  spirits  and  bleeding  hearts. 

IV.    Benton's  Characteristics  as   \  Debater. 

Seemingly,  Benton  was  indifferent  alike  to 
praise  or  blame.  But  he  was  capable  of  intense 
wrath  when  he  thought  that  any  project  of  his 
<>wn,  or  any  public  matter  in  which  he  look  an 
interest,  was  unfairly  treated.  And  when  he 
was  thoroughly  roused  to  anger,  ho  was  most 
dangerous  ;  for  he  never  lost  lh^  -.'If  possession, 
and  always  used  his  anger  as  a  wrath-power 
wherewil li  to  prope]  his  mental  machinery.  Mo 
spoke  with  deliberation,  and  was  noted  for  his 
short,  emphatic,  incisive  sentences.  Be  had  a 
biting   wit.    and   ;i    grim    humor,    which    were 


'I'lioMAS    II      BENTON.  203 

pleasant  fco  everybody  excepl  fehe  victims  of 
1 1  it -in.  When  he  wanted  to  torture  an  opponent, 
he  had  a  way  of  elevating  his  voice  into  a  rasp- 
ing squeal  of  sarcasm  which  was  intolerably 
exasperating  and  somel  imes  utterly  maddening. 
The  word  sir  was  a  formidable  missile  on  his 
fcongue,  and  he  brought  it  into  play  with  a 
frequency  which  nothing  but  his  powerful  utter- 
ance and  commanding  manner  prevented  from 
becoming  absurd.  lie  had  a  way  of  repeating 
a  sentence  over  and  over  and  over,  with  slight 
variations,  which  was  exceedingly  effective. 

In  the  debate  on  the  petition  from  the  people 
of  New  Mexico  to  be  protected  from  the  intro- 
duction of  slavery  into  that  Territory,  which  I 
heretofore  said  (see  page  149)  brought  Calhoun 
to  his  feet,  and  the  preparation  of  which  was 
instigated  by  Benton,  Senator  Westcott,  of 
Florida,  in  commenting  adversely  on  the  peti- 
tion, read  portions  of  it  to  illustrate  his  argu- 
ment. In  thus  reading  from  the  petition  he 
inadvertently  read  the  phrase,  "the  people  of 


204  GREAT     SENATORS. 

New  Mexico"  twice,  and  omitted  the  following 
phrase,  by  which  an  erroneous  idea  of  the 
nature  of  the  petition  was  given.  Benton  at 
once  arose,  and  majestically  reaching  forth  his 
hand  to  Westcott,  who  stood  near  him,  he 
imperiously  said  : 

"  Will  you  hand  me  that  petition,  sir?" 
Senator  Westcott,  taken  by  surprise,  spon- 
taneously handed  over  the  petition.  Benton 
took  it,  and  turning  towards  Vice  President 
1  Dallas,  who  was  presiding  over  the  Senate,  said  : 
"Mr.  President,  sir,  I  wish  to  read  the  words 
that  the  Senator  from  Florida  lefl  out.  He  road 
it  twice,  sir,  as  a  petition  from  the  people  of 
New  Mexico.  He  read  it  twice,  sir,  as  relating 
to  the  people  of  New  Mexico,  and  he  read,  sir, 
•  the  people  of  New  Mexico  '  twic(  —  [laughter 
twice,  sir,  and  by  reading  it  twice  he  though! 
himself  entitled  to  Leave  out  the  few  following 
w  or  Is."  Benton  hurled  "  the  people  of  New 
Mexico,  twice,  sir,"  like  a  missile  at  the  oppo 
nents  of  the  petition.     On  every  repetition  of  the 


THOMAS    li.     BENTON.  205 

word  "  twice  "  his  voice  si  ruck  a  higher  key  and 
rang  oul  with  increased  power;  hismighty  arm 
swept  through  the  air  with  majestic  gesticula- 
tion, his»eyes  blazed,  liis  massive  form  dilated 
and  towered  with  indignation,  and  he  looked 
as  though  he  was  ready  to  sink  the  Senator  in 
the  gladiator  at  the  slightest  physical  provo- 
cation. 

Benton's  peculiar  mental  formation  made 
him  mighty  on  the  plane  of  physical  affairs. 
He  knew  the  material  resources  of  the  country, 
and  everything  thereunto  appertaining,  by 
heart.  He  believed  in  solid,  material  things, 
and  hated  whatever  was  flimsy  or  flabby. 
Speculative  projects  found  no  favor  with  him  ; 
to  win  his  support,  a  scheme  had  to  be  sound 
from  end  to  end  and  all  over  substantial. 

Benton  was  not  an  eloquent  speaker,  but  he 
was  always  interesting.  His  speeches  were 
packed  with  facts  and  filled  with  information. 
II  i^  grim  wit  and  mocking  sarcasm  gave  a  pun- 
gent relish  to  his  style  which  was  exceedingly 


206  GREAT    SENATORS. 

agreeable.  The  indomitable  old  Indian  lighter 
was  usually  apparent  in  hi^  manner  :  and  meta- 
phorically speaking  it  was  easy  to  deteel  the 
whir  of  the  tomahawk  and  the  gleam  of  the 
scalping  knife  in  his  acrid  sentences.  He  did 
not  confine  himself  strictly  to  the  question  in 
debate,  hut  struck  out  into  any  by -path  of  ani- 
madversion in  which  he  scented  game,  looking 
for  scalps  in  sequestered  issues  and  dealing 
blows  at  every  head  he  could  find .  Sometimes  he 
would  ramble  on  in  a  discursive  way  for  hours, 
and  make  a  speech  that  would  fill  six,  eight,  or 
ten  columns  of  the  Intelligencer;  and  then, 
after  the  speech  had  been  written  out,  he  would 
expunge  all  the  extraneous  matter  it  contained, 
so  it  would  make  only  two  or  three  columns  in 
print.  The  reporters,  being  paid  by  the  column, 
did  not  like  his  curtailments.  I  remember,  on 
one  occasion,  thai  my  reporl  "fa  portion  of  one 
of  his  speeches  made  lour  columns,  and  he  cut 
it  down  to  a  column  and  a  half.  It  was  difficult 
r<>  i-  .in  impecunious  young  reporter  to  feel  friend- 


THOMAS     II.     BENTON.  207 

Iv  towards  a  great  man  who  was  accustomed  to 
behave  in  such  a  ruthless  manner  as  that. 

V.   His  Egotism 

The  most  marked  trait  of  Benton's  character 

was  his  egotism,  which  was  so  conspicuous  that 
it  could  not  escape  the  notice  of  the  most  indif- 
ferent observer.  Egotism  is  usually  offensive 
and  almost  invariably  excites  disgust.  But  Ben- 
ton's egotism  was  so  vast,  so  towering,  so  part  and 
parcel  of  the  man,  that  it  was  not  at  all  offen- 
sive, and  never  excited  disgust.  On  the  contrary, 
it  excited  admiration  and  gave  the  beholder  of 
it  pleasure.  One  could  not  help  feeling  that  the 
old  ironclad's  egotism  was  a  sort  of  nationaT 
institution  in  which  every  patriotic  American 
could  take  a  just  pride  ;  that  his  egotism  was  as 
proper  to  him  as  its  apex  is  to  a  pyramid  ;  that, 
in  fact,  it  had  come  to  pass  through  a  natural 
and  fitting  process  of  evolution,  and  was  simply 
the  harmonious  apex  of  his  pyramidal  character. 
Benton's  egotism  pervaded  him  utterly,  and  was 


208  GREAT     SENATORS. 

apparent  in  everything  which  he  said  or  did.     It 

made  Benton  the  centre  of  the  universe  to  Ben- 
ton— the  central  force  which  moved  all  things, 
the  central  orb  around  which  all  other  orhs 
revolved.  In  his  opinion,  whatever  public 
11  latter  he  had  to  do  with  at  all,  took  its  shape 
entirely  from  his  touch,  and  its  success  was 
owing  to  him  exclusively.  It  is  well  known 
that  General  Jackson,  while  he  was  President, 
destroyed  the  United  States  Bank  ;  and  it  i- 
universally  helieved  that  no  man  but  General 
Jackson  had  the  nerve  to  begin  an  attack  upon 
that  "Financial  Monster,"  as  the  hank  was 
called.  Benton,  with  others,  took  sides  with 
Jackson  against  the  hank.  Years  afterwards, 
when  Jackson  was  dead,  a  gentleman  who  was 
walking  with  Benton  in  Washington  remarked, 
a-  they  passed  the  equestrian  statue  of  the  gen- 
eral, that  Jackson  was  a  very  wonderful  man, 
to  which  Benton  responded  : 

"Yes,  sir;    General   Jackson   was   a   greal 
man,   sir     a    very   great    man.    sir.      He   was   of 


THOMAS     if.     BENTON.  209 

greal  use  to  me,  sir,  in  my  war  upon  the  United 
States  Bank,  sir." 

When  Benton's  great  work,  "Thirty  Years 
in  the  United  States  Senate,''  was  about  to 
come  from  the  press,  its  publishers,  (the  Apple- 
tons,)  sent  a  messenger  to  him  to  get  his  views 
as  to  the  number  of  copies  that  should  be 
printed.  The  messenger  having  presented  the 
ease,  the  old  man  loftily  said  : 

"Sir,  they  can  ascertain  from  the  last 
census  how  many  persons  there  are  in  the 
United  States  who  can  read,  sir  ;"  and  that 
was  the  only  suggestion  he  would  condescend 
to  make.  That  he  believed  his  book  would  be 
read  by  everybody  who  could  read  at  all,  I  have 
no  doubt.  He  supposed  that  whatever  he  said 
or  wrote  was  eagerly  sought  for  by  all  sorts  of 
pe«»p]e.  An  amusing  proof  of  this  is  given  in 
the  very  book  in  question.  In  an  autobi- 
ographical sketch  which  serves  as  an  intro- 
duction to  the  work,  Benton,  in  speaking  of  his 
public  career,  says  : 


210  GREAT    SENATORS. 

"From  thai  time  [the  date  of  Benton's  first 

election  to  the  Senate]  his  life  was  in  the  public 
eye,  and  the  bare  enumeration  of  the  measures 
of  which  he  was  the  author  and  the  prime 
promoter,  would  be  almost  a  history  of  Con- 
gress Legislation.  The  enumeration  is  unneces- 
sary here;  the  Long  list  is  known  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land-  repeated 
with  tli«'  familiarity  of  household  words  from 
the  great  cities  on  the  seaboard  to  the  lonely 
cabins  on  the  frontier — and  studied  by  the 
little  boys  who  feel  an  honorable  ambition 
beginning  to  stir  within  their  bosoms,  and  a 
Laudable  desire  to  learn  something  of  the  history 
of  their  country." 

Such  immeasurable  and  self -blinding  egotism 
as  thai  fairly  takes  one's  breath  away.  The 
idea  of  the  little  hoys  of  the  country  devoting 
their  spare  time  to  the  reading  of  Thomas  II. 
Benton's  Congressional  speeches,  reports  and 
bills,  is  a  conception  so  transcendently  egotisti- 
cal   that    one's     powers     of     description     and 


THOMAS     II      BENTON.  •_>  |  | 

characterization  will  before  it.  Ii  is  nol 
probable  I  hai  any  lii  I  le  boy  u  from  i  he  <ii  ies 
<mi  the  seaboard  to  the  lonely  cabins  on  the 
frontier  "  ever  read  a  dozen  pages  of  anything 
which  came  from  Benton's  tongue  or  pen  ;  nor 
is  it  likely  that  one  adult  in  ten  thousand  is 
familiar  with  his  works. 

In  the  autumn  of  ls7<>  I  was  in  St.  Louis, 
and  embraced  the  opportunity  to  talk  with 
some  of  Benton's  old  neighbors.  They  were 
ready  enough  to  talk  about  him,  and  1  heard  a 
few  anecdotes  that  were  so  characteristic  of 
him,  that  I  seemed  to  hear  his  voice  and  see 
his  imperious  hearing  in  them.  Many  years 
before,  when  the  Czar  Nicholas  was  the  most 
conspicuous  personage  in  Europe,  some  one 
was  telling  how  strangers  knelt  in  his  presence. 
On  finishing  the  narrative  the  speaker  said  to 
Benton  : 

"I  suppose.  Colonel,  that  you  would  not 
think  of  kneeling  to  the  Czar?"  to  which  he 
responded,  with  his  most  imperial  emphasis  : 


212  GREAT    SENATORS. 

"  No,  sir  !  No,  sir  !  An  American  kneels 
only  to  God  and  woman,  sir." 

In  1856  Benton  was  running  for  Governor 
of  Missouri,  (he  left  the  Senate  in  1851,)  against 
an  opponent  named  Trusten  Polk.  They  can- 
vassed tin1  Slate,  and  on  one  occasion,  when 
Benton  stepped  forward  to  speak,  he  began  by 
saying,  in  a  meditative  style  : 

"T-r-us-ten  Polk!  T-r-u-s-ten  Polk!  A 
mail  that  nobody  trusts;  a  knave  in  politics 
and  a  hypocrite  in  religion  !" 

A  few  years  before,  (I  think  it  was  in  1852 
or  '54,)  Benton  was  running  for  Congress  in 
.Missouri.  He  and  his  rival  met  several  times 
in  public  debate  before  their  constituents.  On 
one  occasion  bis  opponent  indulged  in  some 
severe  remarks  upon  Benton's  integrity,  or 
rather  lack  of  integrity,  and  insinuated  charges 
of  a  defamatory  character.  Benton  arose, 
walked  up  to  him,  and  after  Looking  him  fierce- 
ly in  the  eye  for  a  moment,  shook  his  fisl  in  bis 
face,  and  shouted  : 


I'ilo.MAS    ii.     BENTON.  213 

"  You  lie,  sir  !    You  lie,  sir  !     [  cram  the  lie 

down  your  throat,  sir  !" 

This  occasioned  the  intensest  feeling. 
Everybody  expected  that  Benton  would  be 
shot,  or  stabbed  at  once,  or  at  least  challenged 
t<>  mortal  combat  on  the  spot.  But  nothing  of 
the  kind  occurred.  His  rival,  it  seems,  hadn't 
any  game  Mood  in  his  veins.  He  turned  pale, 
and  attempted  to  go  on  with  his  speech.  But 
the  Missouri  auditors  turned  their  backs  on  him 
in  disgust.  They  would  not  listen  to  a  man 
who  would  submit  to  such  an  insult  as  that, 
and  Benton  had  it  all  his  own  way  during  the 
remainder  of  the  canvass. 

A  short  time  after  Calhoun's  death,  a  friend 
said  to  Benton,  "I  suppose,  Colonel,  you  won't 
pursue  Calhoun  beyond  the  grave?"  to  which  he 
replied  : 

"  No,  sir.  When  God  Almighty  lays  his 
hand  upon  a  man,  sir,  I  take  mine  off,  sir." 


214  GREAT    BENATORS. 


VI.  The  p.ettek  side  of  Benton's  character. 

Thus  far,  Benton  has  not  appeared  in  an 
amiable  light.  But  lie  had  his  good  side,  and 
many  attractive  characteristics.  He  was  hon- 
esl  and  high  toned.  He  was  indomitably  patri- 
otic. He  stood  by  the  old  flag.  He  had  grand 
and  chivalric  ideas  as  to  his  public  duty.  A-  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  his  country  was 
his  only  client,  and  he  never  took  a  fee  for 
prosecuting  a  claim  against  her,  nor  lent  his 
name  or  influence  to  help  any  one  get  into  her 
treasury.  Ho  was  a  staunch  friend  of  the  poor 
of  poor  blacks,  as  well  as  poor  whites.  While 
he  was  a  young  man,  and  a  member  of  the 
Tennessee  Legislature,  he  procured  the  passage 
of  a  bill  giving  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  to 
slaves.  It  was  largely  through  bis  exertions 
that  the  public  lands  were  thrown  open  to  the 
people,  thai  the  right  of  pre-emption  was 
secured  to  actual  settlers  on  the  public  domain, 


THOMAS     II.     BENTON.  215 

and  that  the  interests  of  pioneers  and  frontier- 
men  were  measurably  protected  against  greedy 
and  soulless  speculators. 

Bent nn  was  as  true  to  his  family  and  his 
friends  as  he  was  to  his  country.  He  could  ao\ 
be  otherwise.  Whatsoever  or  whomsoever  he 
cared  for,  became  an  object  of  solicitude  to  him, 
and  was  sure  of  his  sympathy  and  protection. 
His  family  affections  were  very  strong,  and  his 
loyalty  to  all  domestic  relations  was  true  and 
chivalric.  An  anecdote  which  somewhat  illus- 
trates this  phase  of  his  character  was  told  to 
me  by  an  intimate  friend  of  Benton's,  who  was 
a  witness  of  the  scene  described.  Mrs.  Benton's 
mind  became  impaired  by  a  paralytic  stroke, 
but  she  always  recognized  her  husband,  and 
was  fond  of  being  near  him.  A  French  prince, 
whose  name  I  do  not  remember,  was  visiting 
this  country,  and  several  distinguished  residents 
of  St.  Louis  becoming  acquainted  with  him, 
they  strongly  desired  to  have  him  meet  the 
"Great  Missourian."  The  matter  was  arranged, 


216  GREAT    SENATORS. 

and  one  evening  a  select  party  of  Missourians 
called,  with  the  prince,  on  Benton.  As  they 
were  talking  in  the  parlor,  Mrs.  Benton  came 
to  the  door,  somewhat  en  deshabille,  and  stood 
gazing  al  her  husband  with  fond  and  intense 
admiration.  The  attention  of  the  company 
being  attracted  in  her  direction,  Benton  turned 
to  see  what  the  attraction  was.  On  perceiving 
his  poor  wife,  he  immediately  arose,  went  to 
her,  took  her  tenderly  by  the  hand,  and  leading 
her  into  the  room  with  the  majesty  of  a  demi- 
god, said  :  "My dear,  Prince  So-and-so;  Prince, 
Mrs.  Benton,  sir.-1  Then  affectionately  placing 
a  hassock  for  her,  by  the  side  of  his  chair,  he 
resumed  his  seat,  and  leaving  one  of  his  hands 
in  hers  for  her  to  toy  with,  he  went  on  with 
the  conversation  with  that  impressive  dignity 
in  which  it  is  doubtful  if  he  bad  an  equal  My 
informant  added  thai  the  prince,  taking  in  the 
situation  al  a  glance,  adapted  himself  to  the 
occasion  with  consummate  tact;  while  all  the 
Mi--(. minis  were  affected  to  bears. 


THOMAS     II.     BENTON.  217 

This  tough  and  affectionate  old  gladiator 
died  in  1858.  He  was  "Thomas  H.  Benton, 
sir,"  to  the  last  gasp.  He  was  engaged  upon  an 
abridgment  of  the  debates  in  Congress  from 
LY89  to  L8563  hut  death  cutting  him  short  he 
was  able  to  bring  the  work  down  only  to  the 
-iv.it  dt 'hate  on  the  Compromise  Measures,  in 
L850.  He  finished  the  work  by  an  exhibition  of 
fortitude  and  endurance  which  was  character- 
istic of  him.  Being  too  feeble  to  write,  he 
employed  an  amanuensis,  and  carried  on  the 
work  by  dictation  ;  and  finally  becoming  unable 
to  speak  aloud,  he  whispered  the  last  few  pages 
of  the  work,  as  the  breath  was  slowly  fading 
from  his  iron  lips. 


218  GREAT    SENATORS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Henry  Clay. 

I.  Some  of  Clay's   distinguishing   characteris- 
tics. 

Henry  Clay  was  the  tallest  of  the  great  Sena- 
tors of  his  era,  his  height  being  six  feet  and  one 
inch,  in  his  stockings.  He  was  also  the  most 
brilliant,  the  most  chivalric,  and  by  far  the 
most  popular.  Indeed,  his  popularity  was  phe- 
nomenal—incredible to  those  who  were  not  per- 
sonally cognizant  of  it;  and  he  was  justly 
entitled  to  every  bit  of  it.  He  possessed,  in 
remarkable  fullness,  all  the  qualities  which  win 
and  retain  popularity.  He  was  kind-hearted, 
sympathetic,  genial,  tender,  brave,  honest,  chiv- 
alric, and  always  true  and  loyal  to  his  friends. 
His  conscientiousness,  hope,  benevolence,  firm- 
ness, self-esteem  and  love  of  approbation  were 


BENRY     (LAV.  219 

all  largely  developed  and  active  ;  so  that  he  was 
accommodating  in  friendship,  but  unyielding  in 
principle  ;  firm  but  gentle  ;  at  once  proud  and 
affable;  and  both  democratic  and  aristocratic  by 
nature  and  in  manner.  His  good-nature  and 
his  inborn  American  democratic-republicanism 
gave  a  familiar  and  hail-fellow  cast  to  his  greet- 
ings  and  his  intercourse  ;  but  his  high-toned, 
chivalric  dignity  of  character  pervaded  his 
genial  familiarity,  and  kept  his  associates  in 
mind  that  it  was  not  the  familiarity  of  a  common- 
place personage,  but  that  of  a  high-bred  gentle- 
man who,  from  his  own  inherent  graciousness 
and  spirit  of  good,  fellowship,  chose  to  be  thus 
affable. 

This  combination  of  qualities  rendered  Clay's 
address  spontaneously  irresistible,  and  the  first 
fascinating  impression  was  made  enduring  by 
the  action  of  other  qualities  which  are  right- 
fully potential  with  mankind.  He  had  a 
marvelous  faculty  for  seeing  everything  and 
remembering  everything — names,  faces,  places, 


220  GREAT    SENATORS. 

events,  scenes,  and  the  topographical    features 
of  a  country  through  which  he  traveled.     If  he 
met   a    man   and    spoke    with    him,    he   never 
forgot  him  or  the  circumstances  under  which 
they  met.     After  spending  a  few  hours  in  any 
place  through  which  he  passed,  he  could  recall 
its  features  and  peculiarities  at  any  subsequent 
time,    however     remote,    and    remember    the 
people  he  met  there,  and  what  their  vocations 
were,   to  the  minutest   particulars.     Tin's  gave 
him  surpassing  influence  and  popularity,  inas- 
much as  it  is  pleasant  to  anyhody  to  be  remem- 
bered for   years  by  a  distinguished  personage 
The  rare  qualities  mentioned,  in  the  preceding 
paragraph,  which  Henry  Clay  possessed  in  such 
affluent    degree,    enabled    him,    naturally   and 
without  effort,  to  make  the  mosl  of  these  great 
gifts  of  perception  and  memory.     Nor  was  it  a 
matter  of  mere  selfish  policy  for  him  to  do  so  ; 
it  was  the  externa]   outcome   of   the   internal 
man,   the  spontaneous  effluence  of  the  inner 
spirit.       He   loved    every    pari    of   his   country 


IIKNUY     CLAY  221 

will:  patriotic  fervor,  and  look  an  interesl  in 
every  part  of  it,  and  in  all  of  its  inhabitants, 
and  sympathized  with  them  and  their  pursuits. 
Be  was  the  great  champion  of  American  [ndus- 
try,  and  wherever  he  saw  a  blacksmith's  forge, 
(>v  a  carpenter  shop,  or  a  mill,  or  a  factory,  or 
a  stone  quarry,  or  a  steam  engine,  or  a  printing 
press,  or  a  mart  of  commerce,  or  a  farming 
region,  his  heart  thrilled  with  interest  and 
went  out  in  patriotic  affection  for  the  people 
who  were  at  work  in  all  those  places.  And 
that  was  one  of  the  chief  reasons  why  ho 
remembered  such  things  so  well  and  was  so 
fond  of  talking  about  them.  His  intense, 
vivid,  personal  and  patriotic  devotion  to  the 
industrial  affairs  of  the  country,  stamped  his 
observations  of  them  indelibly  upon  his  memory, 
and  kept  his  interest  in  them  alive  forever  ; 
while  his  broad  and  generous  sympathy  with 
working-men  gave  a  magnetic  geniality  to  the 
interest  he  felt  in  them  which  was  inexpressibly 
attractive  and  winning  to  the  toilers. 


222  GREAT     SENATORS. 

II.    Leading  characteristic  of  Clay's  Mind— 
His  Oratory. 

The  leading  characteristic  of  Henry  Clay's 
mind  was  penetration.  His  perceptive  and 
knowing  faculties  were  so  enormously  devel- 
oped that  nothing  could  escape  his  alert 
observation.  He  could  instantaneously  see 
clear  to  the  bottom  of  any  subject  that  came 
under  his  consideration.  No  sophistry  could 
deceive  him,  no  trick  of  rhetoric  could  mislead 
him,  no  sentimental  eloquence  could  impose 
upon  him.  In  controversy  he  was  logical, 
witty,  humorous,  forcible,  sarcastic,  eloquent. 
His  style  was  vehement  and  impassioned.  His 
voice  was  full,  rich,  clear,  sweet,  musical,  and 
as  inspiring  as  a  trumpet  ;  it  was  also  so 
penetrating  that  in  the  ordinary  tones  of 
conversation  it  could  be  heard  further  than 
the  thick  vocal  bray  of  sonic  of  liis  rivals. 
Wlicn  he  became  excited  in  debate,  bis  manner 
was  peculiar!}  knightly,   gamy,  audacious  and 


iii:m;v    cla\.  223 

sometimes  arrogant.  As  he  set  forth  propo- 
sition after  proposition  with  increasing  energy 

and  fire,  his  tall  form  would  seem  to  grow 
taller  and  taller  with  every  new  statement,  until 
it  reached  a  supernatural  height  ;  his  eyes 
flashed  and  his  hair  waved  wildly  about  his 
head  ;  his  long  arms  swept  through  the  air  ; 
every  lineament  of  his  countenance  spoke  and 
glowed,  until  the  beholder  might  imagine  that 
he  saw  a  great  soul  on  fire  and  expressing 
itself  through  an  organism  which  spontaneous- 
ly responded  to  its  every  emotion. 

The  effect  of  Clay's  oratory  was  much 
enhanced  by  the  peculiar  conformation  of  his 
forehead  and  that  portion  of  his  head  whicji  lay 
above  it.  His  perceptive  organs  projected  far 
out,  the  crown  of  his  head  was  unusually  high, 
and  a  grand  curvilinear  line  swept  from  the 
frontal  sinus  between  his  eyes  to  the  apex  of 
his  head.  This  peculiar  conformation  gave  him 
a  commanding,  eagle-like,  soaring  expression 
which,   in  combination  with  his  glowing  fea- 


224-  GREAT     SENATORS. 

tures,  his  blazing  eyes  and  his  fiery  eloquence, 
sometimes  excited  the  beholder's  imagination 
until  he  seemed  to  be  rising  in  the  air  with  the 
orator.  An  accomplished  old  lady,  who  bad 
known  Clay  from  her  childhood,  told  me  thai 
she  never  beard  him,  in  one  of  bis  impassioned 
bursts  of  eloquence,  without  thinking  of  the 
lines  descriptive  of  the  weird  magician  in  Cole- 
ridge's Kubla  Khan  : 

"  And  all  shall  cry  Beware  !  Beware  ! 
His  flashing  eyes,  his  floating  hair  ; 
Weave  a  circle  round  him  thrice, 
And  close  your  lips  with  holy  dread." 

The  secret  of  this  unique  and  resistless  char- 
acter must  be  sought  in  the  operation  of  Henry 
Clay's  environment  upon  bis  heredity  or  organic 
structure,  which  was  exceedingly  unlike  that  of 
any  other  human  being.  It  has  been  said  thai 
he  was  very  tall  ;  be  was  likewise  very  thin. 
Such  a  physical  development  is  usually  accom- 
panied with  looseness  of  joints,  lankness  of 
person,  and  general  bodily  awkwardness,  weak- 


iiknky    CLAY.  225 

ness  and  flabbiness.  But  Henry  Clay,  though 
so  tall  and  so  Blender,  was  not  afflicted   with 

even  one  of  those  undesirable  characteristics. 
He  was  perfectly  symmetrical  from  his  crown 
to  his  heels  ;  his  joints  were  firm  and  supple  ; 
his  frame  was  elastic  ;  his  bodily  strength  was 
great  ;  his  carriage  was  graceful  and  command- 
ing. Of  course,  there  were  reasons  for  this,  but 
it  is  not  easy  to  tell  what  the  reasons  were.  It 
is  not  easy  to  tell  just  how  any  human  organism 
is  built  up,  nor  how  any  human  being  comes  to 
pass  in  his  totality.  It  may  be  said  that  Clay's 
vital  force  was  so  prodigious  that,  operating 
with  his  harmonious  temperaments  and  the 
elevated  spiritual  nature  which  he  possessed 
from  childhood,  it  sent  his  form  up  in  graceful 
contour  and  symmetrical  development  from 
the  sole  of  his  feet  to  the  crown  of  his  head. 
His  limbs  were  long,  his  body  was  long,  his 
neck  was  long,  and  his  head  was  long  from  the 
base  to  the  crown.  And  through  all  this  singu- 
lar organism  the  vital  forces  coursed  in  strenu- 


226  GREAT    SENATORS. 

ous,  fiery  currents,  making  Henry  Clay  the 
livest  manof  whom  it  is  possible  toconceive.  It 
is  difficult,  perhaps  impossible,  to  tell  just 
exactly  how  a  lily  or  an  oak  comes  to  pass.  We 
know  that  it  receives  nourishment  from  the 
earth  beneath,  and  from  the  sun  and  air  above  ; 
that  in  a  general  way  the  earth  pushes  and  the 
sun  pulls,  and  in  due  time  there  stands  the 
lily  or  the  oak.  Wealso  knowthat  Henry  Clay. 
by  virtue  of  his  heredity  and  the  operation  of 
his  environment  upon  it,  had  faculties  which,  as 
his  development  went  on,  took  strong  hold  of 
earthly  things,  and  other  faculties  which  took 
strong  hold  of  heavenly  things;  and  that  the 
earth  faculties  pushed  and  the  heaven  faculties 
pulled  until  there  stood  the  phenomenal  man. 
Harry  Clay,  of  lofty,  patriotic,  genial,  enthusi- 
astic, sunny  nature,  who  won  the  immeasurable 
admiration  of  millions  of  minds  and  the  endur- 
ing affection  of  millions  of  hearts. 

In  addition  to  the  attractivi  qualities  already 
mentioned,  Henry  Clay  was  an  honesl  man  in 


II  i:\ky    CLAY.  227 

national  affairs,  as  well  as  in  personal  business 
transactions.  The  people  believed  in  his  hon- 
esty, and  felt  proud  of  it,  and  loved  him  more 
intensely  because  he  was  honest.  Every  one  is 
familiar  with  the  oft-quoted  exclamation  which 
he  uttered  when  some  of  his  timid  friends 
thought  that  he  was  imperilling  his  chances  for 
the  Presidency.  "But  am  I  not  right?"  he 
thundered.  "  I'd  rather  be  right  than  be  Presi- 
dent !"  And  he  spoke  the  truth.  He  would 
rather  have  been  right  once  than  President 
twice.  In  this  respect  he  differed  from  his 
rivals,  any  of  whom,  it  is  to  be  feared,  would 
rather  have  been  President  once  than  right 
many  times.  But  Henry  Clay  belonged  to  that 
small,  inestimable  class  of  great  men  who  care 
more  for  the  integrity  of  their  own  souls,  under 
the  all -seeing  eye  of  God,  than  for  any  degree 
of  worldly  success  and  fame.  Directly  in  line 
with  these  attractive  characteristics  there  is.  in 
an  exordium  to  a  celebrated  speech  of  Clay's, 
which  I  shall  by  and  by  quote,  an  unconscious 


228 


GREAT    SENATOKS. 


revelation   of  a   trait  of  his  character   which 

greatly  endeared  him  to  his  friends.  In  that 
exordium  he  speaks  of  being  "an  old  man- 
quite  an  old  man.  But,"  he  adds,  "  it  will  be 
found  that  I  am  not  too  old  to  vindicate  my 
principles,  to  stand  by  my  friends,  and  to 
defend  myself.''  There  spoke  the  inmost  heart 
and  nature  of  Henry  Clay.  First  in  his  solici- 
tude, were  his  principles  ;  second,  his  friends  ; 
third  and  last,  himself. 

Clay  was  industrious  and  economical,  and 
led  a  simple,  abstemious  life.  He  was  respect- 
ful and  reverent  towards  religion.  He  was 
beloved  by  his  friends  and  believed  in  by  the 
public  at  large.  He,  of  course,  had  enemies- 
bitter  enemies  ;  but  even  they  did  not  doubt 
the  sincerity  of  his  patriotism,  and  they 
respected  his  genius  and  his  probity.  All  these 
things  added  greatly  to  the  effect  of  his  oratory. 
Thefacttli.ii  it  was  Harry  Clay  the  chivalric, 
the  honest,  hhe  patriotic  Barry  Clay,  bo  beloved 
by  his  friends,  and  so  n  spected   by  his  enemies 


HENRY     CLAY.  229 

— who  was  speaking,  excited  fche  imagination  of 
the  auditors  and  stirred  them  into  enthusiasm. 
They  fell  sure  that  a  great  oratorical  treat 
was  coming  ;  and  when  he  got  fairly  under 
way  in  debate,  and  was  aroused  by  opposition 
and  goaded  by  the  attacks  of  his  adversaries, 
liis  countenance  would  speak  as  well  as  his 
tongue,  and  his  whole  body  would  become  elo- 
quent ;  and  his  listeners — or  at  least  the  more 
emotional  and  less  logical  portion  of  them — 
captivated  by  the  spell  of  his  fascinating  per- 
sonality, would  surrender  their  judgment  and 
resign  themselves  to  his  will.  It  used  to  be 
said  that  Henry  Clay,  when  pouring  forth  his 
impassioned  streams  of  oratory,  had  the  most^\ 
looking  countenance  ever  seen  on  mortal  man. 
And  so  he  had.  On  such  an  occasion,  there 
was  no  passion  of  the  soul  or  thought  of  the 
mind  which  his  countenance  did  not  mirror 
forth  in  rapid  succession,  as  his  wonderful 
voice  expressed  the  same  thoughts  and  emotions 
in   tones   which  musically  and   vividly  struck 


230  GREAT  SENATORS. 

every  cord  of  the  heart  And  yet  his  language 
was  simple,  and  so  was  his  style,  and  his  dic- 
tion flowed  along  in  a  stream  of  eloquence  as 
clear  as  crystal,  which  a  child  could  understand, 
and  which  the  most  experienced  orator  would 
listen  to  with  delight. 

I   am   fully  conscious  that  critical  readers, 
who  are  familiar  with  our  parliamentary  litera- 
ture hut  never  heard  Clay  speak,  are  ready  to 
ask  :  "  If  Henry  Clay's  speeches  were  so  very 
wonderful   and    captivating,    why    is    it    that 
nobody  ever  reads  any  of  them  now  ?"      The 
answer  to  that  question  is  that  Henry  Clay's 
speeches  derived  their  irresistible  power  from  his 
irresistible  personality.     It  was  that-  -his  person- 
ality which  took  people  captive.    He  spoke  to  an 
audience  very  much  as  an  ardent  lover  -peaks 
t<>  his  sweatheart  when  pleading  for  her  hand. 
Everybody  knows  that  the  more  successful  a 
lover's  speech  is  on  such  an  occasion,  the  less 
readable  it  is  when  it  gets  into  cold  print.     The 
lover  speaks  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  his 


HENRY    (LAV.  231 

point  and  winning  his  cause  just  then  and 
ih  ire,  and  is  content  with  immediate  success, 
li  was  the  same  with  Henry  Clay.  He  spoke 
to  win  his  cause  right  there  and  then  and  gain 
a  favorable  verdict  on  the  spot  ;  and  no  lover 
was  ever  more  ardent,  more  vehement,  more 
impassioned,  or  more  successful  in  his  appeal 
than  Clay  ;  and  he  was  content  with  his  im- 
mediate success. 

Clay  could  tell  an  anecdote  in  a  captivating 
way.  There  was  a  freedom,  a  sweep,  an 
elegance  in  his  anecdotal  style  which  was  very 
taking.  One  of  the  anecdotes  he  was  fond  of 
telling  related  to  an  incident  which  occurred  in 
Kentucky  when  he  was  abroad,  in  1814, 
acting  as  Commissioner  in  negotiating  the 
treaty  of  Ghent.  He  used  to  tell  the  story  for 
the  purpose  of  illustrating  how  readily  and 
triumphantly  a  Kentucky  stump  speaker  could 
encounter  an  emergency  and  surmount  an 
obstacle.  Clay,  while  abroad,  was  in  the  habit 
of  writing  letters  to  his  friends  at  home  giving 


232  GREAT     SENATORS. 

them  an  account  of  the  progress  of  the 
negotiation  of  the  treaty.  When  a  letter  from 
him  arrived  in  Lexington,  the  news  of  its 
reception  would  be  circulated,  and  Ins  neigh- 
bors would  assemble  to  hear  it  read.  In  one 
of  his  letters,  which  was  read  to  an  out-door 
crowd  by  a  veteran  politician.  Clay  used  the 
phrase  sine  qua  non  several  times.  At  the 
third  repetition  of  the  phrase,  an  old  man, 
wearing  a  hunting  shirt,  who  stood  on  the  edge 
of  the  crowd,  called  out  to  the  reader : 

"Say,  Gineral,  what's  shier  quer  non?" 

The  "  Gineral "  had  no  idea  what  the  phrase 
meant,  but  he  was  one  of  the  kind  who  are 
always  equal  to  the  occasion,  and  elevating  his 
voice  to  its  utmost  pitch,  he  shouted : 

u  Sine  qua  non  is  an  island  in  Passama- 
q noddy  Bay,  and  Henry  Clay  goes  for  Sine  qua 
non  !" 

This  declaration  was  received  with  enthu- 
siastic applause,  and  Eenry  Clay's  great 
reputation  anion--  his  neighbors  as  a   patriotic 


iu:m;v    clay.  233 

and  unflinching  upholder  of  his  country's 
rights  against  Great  Britain  became  greater 
than  ever. 

III.    Clay's    Chief    Fault    in    Debate— His 
Collision  with  Calhoun. 

Clay's  chief  fault  in  debate  was  his  arro- 
gance, and  his  readiness,  under  strong  excite- 
ment, to  say  something  so  insulting  that  an 
opponent  had  no  alternative  except  to  challenge 
him,  or  treat  him  with  silent  disdain.  A 
memorable  instance  of  this  kind  occurred  in 
a  bitter  and  exciting  contest  which  he  had 
with  Calhoun,  in  1S3S.  Calhoun  had  coalesced 
with  Clay  and  the  Whigs  for  several  years  in 
their  opposition  to  what  they  called  the 
despotism  of  President  Jackson  ;  but  soon  after 
Jackson's  successor  (Van  Buren)  began  to 
develop  his  policy,  Calhoun  signified  his  inten- 
tion to  support  the  Administration  in  opposition 
to  the  Whigs.  This  annoyed  Clay,  because  it 
interfered   with  schemes  of   attack   upon  Van 


234  GREAT    SENATORS. 

Buren's  Administration,  which  he  was  maturing. 
Being  thus  annoyed,  he  assailed  Calhoun  with 
great  acrimony,  goaded  him  with  charges  of 
political  vacillation,  and  taunted  him  with 
sarcastic  allusions  to  his  alleged  personal 
tergiversations.  This  attack  provoked  the 
urbane  South  Carolinian  to  retort  severely  : 
and  he  reminded  Clay  that  in  1833,  during  the 
nullification  contest,  he  (Calhoun)  had  over- 
mastered the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  and  had 
him  flat  on  his  hack.  This  was  a  legitimate 
and  parliamentary  retort  on  the  part  of 
Calhoun,  but  Clay  took  it  as  a  personal  affront, 
and  when  he  rose  to  reply  he  was  furious. 
Shaking  his  long,  bony  finger  at  Calhoun,  he 
exclaimed,  in  tones  of  passionate  resentment  : 

"Mr.  President,  he  my  master!  I  would 
not  own  him  for  a  slave !" 

In  those  days,  and  in  the  society  in  which 
Clay  and  Calhoun  moved,  the  reporl  oi  a  duel- 
ling pistol  was  the  only  voice  with  which  such 
an  insull  could   be  answered  ;  and   as  Calhoun 


IIKMJY      (LAV.  235 

was  incapable  of  being  a  duellist,  a  silence  of 
years  fell  between  those  great  men  ;  a  silence 
which  was  not  broken  until  Clay  took  leave  of 
the  Senate,  as  he  supposed  forever,  in  1842.  On 
that  occasion  he  referred  to  bis  unfortunate 
habit  of  undue  excitement  in  debate,  and  made 
such  a  manly  and  touching  apology  for  all  his 
offences  against  parliamentary  decorum  that 
there  was  hardly  a  dry  eye  in  the  Senate  cham- 
ber ;  and  Calhoun,  leaving  his  seat,  walked  over 
to  Clay  and  extended  his  hand,  which  was  cor- 
dially taken,  and  they  were  thenceforth  friends. 
It  must  have  been  an  impressive  and  affecting- 
scene  when  those  courtly  Senatorial  champions 
thus  clasped  hands  after  an  estrangement  which 
had  lasted  for  years.  Each  was  a  perfect  mas- 
ter of  all  the  arts  of  courtesy  and  salutation, 
but  differed  sharply  in  spirit  and  maimer.  This 
difference  of  spirit  and  manner  was  apparent  in 
the  reception  they  accorded  to  strangers  who 
were  introduced  to  them,  (lay,  while  formally 
polite    and    courteous,    was    so    captivatingly 


236  GREAT     SENATORS. 

democratic  in  his  hearty  and  sympathetic  spirit 
of  fellowship,  that  a  stranger,  however  humble 
in  station,  at  once  felt  at  home  with  the  affable 
and  cordial  Kentuckian ;  while  Calhoun, 
although  equally  polite  and  courteous,  was  so 
thoroughly  aristocratic  in  his  exquisite  urbanity, 
that  a  stranger,  while  charmed  with  his  genial 
and  benignant  greeting,  yet  felt  that  there  was 
a  barrier  between  him  and  the  stately  South 
Carolinian  which,  though  slight  as  gossamer, 
was  as  impenetrable  as  granite. 

IV.  The  way  in  which  Calhoun,  Benton.  Clay 
and  Webster  greeted  Strangers. 

The  dispositions  of  the  four  great  Senators — 
Calhoun,  Benton,  Clay  and  Webster— were 
indicated  by  their  treatment  of  strangers  who 
were  introduced  to  them.  It  was  customary 
for  strangers  in  Washington  to  seek  introduc- 
tions to  these  distinguished  men.  and  every 
Representative  in  Congress  was  expected  by 
his  visiting  cunstitutents  to  procure  thorn  such 


HENRY    (LAV.  237 

introductions.     I  witnessed  many  of  these  pre- 
sentations.    The  usual   form  was:    "Mr. 


permit  me  to  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Jorkins,  one 
of  my  constituents."  I  have  already  described 
Calhoun's  way  of  responding  to  such  introduc- 
tions, and  there  is  nothing  to  be  added  to  the 
description. 

Benton's  mode  of  receiving  a  stranger  thus 
introduced  to  him  was  overwhelmingly  Ben- 
tonian.  If  the  reader  will  take  the  trouble  to 
recall  the  delineation  of  Benton's  character, 
which  is  given  in  the  preceding  chapter,  he  will 
readily  understand  that  Benton  would  consider 
the  desire  of  a  stranger  to  be  introduced  to  Mm, 
an  eminently  proper  desire.  What,  indeed, 
should  anybody  come  to  Washington  for, 
except  to  be  introduced  to  the  Great  Mis- 
sourianj  How  could  anybody  who  had  come 
to  Washington  think  of  leaving  the. city  with- 
out being  introduced  to  the  Great  Missourian  \ 
Such  was  Benton's  view  of  the  subject  ;  and 
Benton  was  the  man  to  show  the  public-spirited 


23S  GREAT    SENATORS. 

American  citizen,  who  naturally  wanted  to  be 
introduced  to  America's  greatest  citizen,  thai 
his  patriotic  aspirations  were  duly  appreciated 
by  the  eminent  personage  who  called  them 
forth.  So.  when  Jorkins,  of  Jorkinsville,  was 
introduced  to  Benton,  the  Great  Missourian, 
crushing  the  poor  fellow's  hand  in  his  iron 
grip,  would  exclaim,  with  the  imperious  air 
of  a  demigod,  and  in  tones  that  could  he  heard 
ringing  through  the  corridors  : 

"How  do  yon  do,  Mr.  Jorkins,  sir?  I  am 
very  glad  to  see  you,  sir.  I  hope  you  are  very 
well,  sir.  I  trust  you  are  having  a  pleasant  visil 
in  Washington,  sir ;"  and  so  on,  in  a  roaring 
avalanche  of  vociferous  courtesy,  which  would 
fill  Jorkins  with  trepidation,  and  cause  him  to 
break  away  as  soon  as  possible  and  flee  from 
the  overwhelming  presence. 

Webster  evidently  fell  such  introductions  to 
be  ;in  intolerable  bore,  and  seldom  look  the 
trouble  bo  conceal  his  annoyance.     Usually,  his 

man  nor.  on  BUCh  Occasions,  was  freezingly  indif- 


HENRY    CLAY.  !>:;:♦ 

ferent.  He  seemed  to  be  preoccupied  and 
unable  to  bring  his  mind  fco  the  cognition  of  the 
rural  Jorkins.  Sometimes  he  did  not  even  look 
at  the  person  introduced,  but  mechanically 
extended  his  hand,  and  permitted  the  stranger 
to  shake  it,  if  he  had  the  courage  to  do  so.  I 
have  seen  members  of  Congress  turn  crimson 
with  indignation  at  Webster's  ungracious 
reception  of  their  constituents.  They  felt  that 
his  manner  was  a  personal  insult  to  them,  and 
their  constituents  shared  their  opinion  and 
sympathized  with  their  indignation.  Doubt- 
less, many  enemies  were  thus  made  by  Web 
ster,  whose  adverse  influence  was  afterwards 
felt  in  the  Whig  National  Conventions,  of 
which  he  so  repeatedly  and  so  vainly  sought  a 
nomination  to  the  Presidency. 

I  have  already  indicated  what  Clay's  manner 
of  receiving  a  stranger  was  ;  but  no  description 
of  it  can  give  an  adequate  idea  of  its  warmth, 
its  graciousness,  its  complete  satisfactoriness, 
both  to  the  introducer  and  to  the  constituent 


240  GREAT    SENATORS. 

introduced.  (May's  manner  to  a  member  of 
Congress  who  introduced  a  constituent  to  him 
was  such  as  led  the  stranger  to  imagine  that 
his  Representative  was  one  of  the  most  intimate 
and  cherished  friends  that  Clay  had  on  earth  ; 
and  his  reception  of  the  stranger  caused  him  to 
feel  that  for  some  reason  it  gave  Clay  a  peculiar 
personal  gratification  to  make  his  acquaintance. 
Then  Clay  would  at  once  begin  to  talk  with 
Jorkins  about  affairs  in  Jorkinsville.  He 
would  remember  everybody  he  had  ever  met 
from  Jorkinsville  ;  or  he  might  have  passed 
through  that  region  years  before,  and  in  that 
case  he  would  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  the 
country,  and  its  inhabitants.  And  he  would 
send  messages,  by  Jorkins,  to  all  his  "old 
friends"  in  Jorkinsville  ;  and,  of  course,  when 
Jorkins  got  home  he  lost  no  time  in  delivering 
i  he  messages,  in  order  to  let  his  neighbors  know 
how  intimate  he  had  been  with  "HarryClay" 
while  he  was  in  Washington.  It  does  not 
require  much  sagacity  to  perceive  thai  Jorkins 


HENRY    CLAY.  241 

,iik1  all  his  tribe,  even  if  they  were  Democrats, 

would  be  personally  friendly  to  Henry  (  l,i\ . 

V.  Tom  Marshall's  Anecdote. 

Thomas  F.  Marshall,  better  known  as  Tom 
Marshall,  a  celebrated  Kentucky  lawyer  and 
orator  of  the  past  generation,  (who,  unfortun- 
ately, was  too  much  given  to  strong  drink,) 
used  to  tell  how  he  was  driven  to  the  bottle  and 
his  law  partner  to  the  Bible,  in  a  way  which 
humorously  but  powerfully  suggests  Clay's 
marvelous  ability  as  an  advocate.  "The  way 
of  it  was  this/'  Marshall  used  to  say.  "Bob 
Breckenridge  "  (Robert  Jefferson  Breckenridge, 
afterwards  a  distinguished  clergymen)— kk  Bob 
Breckenridge  and  I  formed  a  partnership  when 
we  first  started  out  to  practice  law.  The  firm 
of  Breckenridge  and  Marshall  soon  began  to  take 
the  lead  of  all  the  law  firms  in  Kentucky.  We 
marched  right  on.  without  a  break,  until,  in  our 
own  opinion  at  least,  we  were  at  the  head  of  the 
State  bar,  with  one  solitary  exception  ;  and  that 


242  GREAT    SENATORS. 

exception  was  Benry  (May.  We  bad  never  had 
a  chance  at  him  ;  l»ut  we  had  no  doubt  what- 
ever as  to  wliat  the  result  would  be  it  we  should 
have  the  good  fortune  to  encounter  him  in  open 
court.  We  fell  assured  thai  we  should  at  once 
and  forever  put  an  end  to  his  supremacy  and 
soar  to  tlif  head  ourselves.  We  watched  for  an 
opportunity  to  tackle  the  old  lion,  and,  after  a 
long  wait,  fortune  at  last  favored  us.  We 
heard  that  Clay  had  been  retained  to  prosecute 
a  certain  case,  and  we  immediately  rushed  off 
and  volunteered  our  services  to  the  defence,  so 
as  to  get  a  chance  at  him.  Our  offer  was 
accepted  and  we  awaited  tip'  day  of  the  trial 
with  feelings  of  fretful  impatience  solaced  with 
anticipations  of  triumph.  Time  dragged  heavily 
on,  hnt  filially  the  day  of  trial  came.  When  it 
<•  ime  to  the  summing  up,  as  Breckenridgeand  1 
both  wanted  to  take  a  hand  in  Laying  out  clay, 
we  arranged  with  the  judge  that  we  should 
divide  our  time  between  us,  and  each  addr 
the  jury.     I.  being  the  junior   partner,  spoke 


I1KNIIY     CLAY.  243 

first.     When    I  arose  to  begin  my  plea,  I  fell  a 
pangof  remorseal  thethoughl  that  I  vvasabout 

to  displace  the  splendid  old  man  who  sat  before 
me  from  his  proud  pre-eminence,  and  myself 
take  the  honored  position  which  he  had  so  long 
conspicuously  occupied.  But  I  smothered  my 
sentimentality  and  proceeded  to  business.  I  bad 
made  elaborate  preparation  for  the  occasion,  and 
I  did  it  and  myself  the  amplest  justice.  I  felt 
that  Clay  could  hardly  bold  up  his  bead  after  I 
got  through  with  him.  In  fact,  in  my  own 
estimation,  I  laid  him  out  so  cold  that  nothing 
was  left  for  Breckenridge  to  do  but  to  dance  on 
his  remains;  and  he  did  dance  on  them— a 
regular  war  dance.  When  Bob  concluded  and 
sat  down,  we  expected  that  Clay  would  throw 
up  the  sponge  without  attempting  any  reply  to 
our  unanswerable  arguments  and  eloquence. 
But  not  a  bit  of  it,  The  old  lion  got  up,  and 
with  oil"  swoop  of  his  paw  be  drove  Brecken- 
ridge to  the  Bihle  and  me  to  the  bottle,  and  we 
have  both  been  there  ever  since." 


244  GREAT   BENATOR8. 

VI.  ("lav's  Felicets  in  Exordium     A  Notable 
Example. 

Henry  (lay,  like  Shakespeare  and  many 
another  genius,  was  taught  less  by  the  schools 
than  by  nature  and  experience.  He  began  a 
speech  with  the  same  masterly  simplicity, 
directness  and  precision  with  which  Shakes- 
peare begins  a  drama.  His  exordium  exhibited 
all  the  Quintilian  attributes.  It  was  brief,  it 
was  in  keeping  with  the  subject  and  the 
occasion,  and  it  prepossessed  the  audience  in 
favor  of  the  speaker  and  his  cause.  His 
language  and  his  metaphors  always  exactly 
fitted  the  pJacg,  the  occasion,  the  audience  and 
the  circumstances.  1  will  give  an  exan  pi'' 
which  will  illustrate  what  1  mean  ;  but  1  must 
firs!  venture  upon  a  brief  sketch  leading  op  t<» 
the  occasion. 

\\  lu'ii  Clay  retired  from  the  Senate  in  L842, 
it  was  known  that  he  did  so  because,  <>n  account 
of   the   betrayal   of   the  Whig  party  by  John 


1IKNKY     CLAY.  245 

Tyler  oi\  his  accidental  accession  to  the  Presi 
dency,  Clay  found  himself  in  a  minority  in  the 

Senate,  although  the  Whigs  had  a  majority 
there.  The  Tyler  Whigs,  following  the  pap 
spoon  and  uniting  with  the  Democrats,  defeated 
Clay's  efforts  to  get  Whig  measures  through 
Congress.  As  Benton  graphically  said,  by  a 
singular  process  of  political  filtration  (lav's 
influence  was  dissipated  until  he  found  himself 
a  dreg  in  the  party  of  which  for  years  he  had 
been  the  conspicuous  leader.  Clay's  proud 
spirit  could  not  brook  such  humiliation,  and  so 
he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  And  as 
soon  as  he  resigned  he  was  missed,  and  the 
masses  of  the  Whig  party  began  to  mutter 
ominously.  They  wanted  their  old  leader  back 
in  his  rightful  place.  Besides,  Clay  was  poor- 
poor  notwithstanding  his  thirty-five  years  of 
public  service;  for  he  was  not  one  of  those 
statesmen  who,  on  a  five-thousand-dollar  salary, 
manage  to  lay  up  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  per   annum.      He   went    home  to 


246  GREAT    SENATORS. 

Lexington,  (Ky.,)  hired  a  little  office  and 
resumed  the  practice  of  the  law  for  the  purpose 
of  earning  his  daily  bread.  Such  a  spectacle  as 
tli.it  moved  the  hearl  of  the  nation.  The  rank 
and  file  of  the  Whig  party  began  to  clamor  for 
Henry  Clay's  nomination  for  the  Presidency  in 
L844.  This  alarmed  the  Democrats  and  Clay's 
persona]  enemies,  and  excited  the  jealousy  of 
his  rivals  in  his  own  party.  It  was  fell  by  all 
those  people  that  Henry  Clay  must  be  killed 
off  ;  and  for  the  purpose  of  killing  him  off  a 
concerted  system  of  attack  was  devised. 
Streams  of  detraction  were  poured  upon  him 
from  all  parts  of  the  country;  and  this  course 
was  persisted  in  until  the  defamation  became 
unendurable.  In  L 843  Clay  announced  thai  on 
a  certain  day  he  would  meei  his  fellow-citizens 
face  to  face  at  Lexington,  and  reply  to  his 
defamers.  On  the  day  appointed,  a  vast  con- 
course assembled  at  Lexington  from  the 
surrounding  country.  I  hope  the  reader  will 
try  to  -nnnn«. n    up  a    mental    picture  of    the 


iii:\ky    CLAY.  -jlT 

scene,  so  fchal  he  may  enjoy  the  felicitousnesa 
of  the  orator's  opening  sentences.  There  the 
venerable  chieftain  was,  in  Ins  old  home,  and 
before  him  were  aged  men  who  had  begun  their 
ciivcr  in  that  region  when  he  began  his. 
And  th  >re  were  the  children  and  grandchildren 
of  his  old  comrades  who  all  their  lives  had 
heard  eulogiums  upon  Henry  Clay  ;  and  there 
were  thousands  of  his  fellow -citizens  from  near 
and  far  who  were  ready  to  do  battle  for  him. 
And  they  were  all  Kentuckians— -hunters  of 
Kentucky,  familiar  with  the  forest  and  the 
chase.  As  the  aged  orator  arose  and  stood 
before  them,  there  was  the  solemn  hush  of  a 
great  silence.  With  his  tall  form  feebly  bent, 
he  began  : 

"I  am  an  old  man — quite  an  old  man  ;  but 
(and  here  he  straightened  himself  up  and  his 
eyes  flashed)  "  it  will  be  found  that  I  am  not  too 
old  to  vindicate  my  principles,  to  stand  by  my 
friends,  and  to  defend  myself.  It  so  happens 
that  I  have  again  located  myself,  in  the   prac- 


248  GREAT    SENATORS, 

tice  of  my  profession,  in  an  office  within  a  few 
rods  of  the  one  which  I  occupied  when,  more 
than  forty  years  ago,  I  first  came  among  you, 
an  orphan  and  a  stranger,  and  your  fathers  took 

oae  by  the  hand  and  made  me  what  I  am.  I 
feel  like  an  old  stag,  which  lias  long  been 
coursed  by  the  hunters  and  the  hounds  through 
brakes  and  briars,  and  o'er  distant  plains,  and 

has  at  last  returned  to  his  ancient  lair  to  lay 
himself  down  and  die.  And  yet  the  vile  curs 
of  party  are  barking  at  my  heels,  and  the  blood- 
hounds of  personal  malignity  are  aiming  at  my 
throat,     [scorn  and  defy  them  as  lever  did  T 

By  this  time  the  hearts  of  that  great  niiilti- 
i  ude  were  <»n  fire,  and 

"  At  once  there  rose  so  wild  a  yell, 

*  *  *  * 

As  .ill  the  Sends  from  heaven  that  fell 
Had  pealed  the  banner-cry  of  hell." 

( Iriea  and  sobs  and  shouts  hurtled  in  the  air, 
and  there  was  a  fierce  looking  around  for  ene 
mies  of  Henry  Clay;  but,  fortunately,  none  of 


HENRY  (LAY  249 

his  enemies  were  visible  fco  the  naked  eye,  and 

so  nobody  was  lynched.  But  when  si  Nik.  and 
calmness  wore  restored,  the  old  man  "  rose  to 
the  occasion,"  and  in  a  speech  of  impassioned 
eloquence,  lasting  for  hours  and  ranging  over 
his  whole  public  life,  he  vindicated  his  princi- 
ples, he  stood  by  his  friends,  he  defended  him- 
self. It  was  a  long-continued  storm  of  eloquence 
which  rolled  over  the  savannahs  of  the  South 
and  the  prairies  of  the  West,  burst  through  the 
Alleghanies,  swept  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard, 
thundered  across  the  Middle  States,  broke  on 
the  granite  hills  of  New  Hampshire,  reverber- 
ated through  New  England,  and  at  Baltimore, 
in  '44,  gave  Henry  Clay  the  Whig  nomination 
to  the  Presidency  by  acclamation,  without  the 
formality  of  a  ballot. 

Perhaps  some  of  the  readers  of  these  pages 
remember  that  enthusiastic  campaign  of  1S44, 
and  also  remember  what  bitter  disappointment 
and  what  mourning  there  were  when  it  was 
learned  that  the  gallant  and  peerless  "  Harry  of 


25  I  GREAT    SENATORS. 

111.-  West  *'  had  been  beaten,  as  a  broken-hearted 
Whig  poel  said  : 

l>  By  little  Jimmy  Polk  of  Tennessee; 
< lolah,  M-l.-ih,  oolah  ee, 
Let's  climb  the  wild  persimmon  tree  l" 

The  chief  cause  of  (May's  defeat  was  his 
opposition  fco  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  the 
extension  of  slavery.  He  was  fighting  against 
destiny.  The  annexation  of  Texas  and  all  that 
followed  in  its  train  had  to  come,  and  fill  the 
land  with  turmoil,  and  strife,  and  blood,  and 
death,  till  freedom  triumphed  and  slavery  was 
extinguished.  And  so  we  enthusiastic  admirers 
of  Henry  Clay  can  look  back  with  resignation 
upon  the  omission  of  his  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency from  the  greai  programme  of  events 
which  was  prepared  for  lis  by  the  hand  of  God 

Henry  Clay  died  at  Washington,  June  29, 
1852,  in  his  seventy-sixth  y^-av. 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  ^ol 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Daniel  Webster. 

I.  The   Godlike    Daniel. — His   greatness. — His 
personal  Appearance. 

The  last  and  greatest  personage  of  whom  I 
have  to  treat  is  Daniel  Webster.  I  have  writ- 
ten of  three  great  men — three  very  great  men, 
Calhoun,  Benton  and  Clay  ;  but,  great  as  they 
were,  Daniel  Webster,  in  downright  intellectual 
power  and  main  strength  of  mentality,  was 
equal  to  all  three  of  them  taken  together. 

The  reader  is  doubtless  familiar  with  the  fact 
that  in  Webster's  day  he  was  called  ' '  The  God- 
like Daniel."  The  appellation  fitted  him.  He 
was  godlike  in  appearance  and  in  power.  He 
was  not  so  tall  as  Clay,  but  he  was  much  larger 
and  more  massive  in  every  way.  He  had  hi  <  >ad 
shoulders,  a  deep  chest,  and  a  large  frame.     I 


252  GREAT    SENATORS. 

have  seen  men  taller  than  Webster ;  I  have  seen 
men  larger  ;  hut  I  never  saw  anyone  who  looked 
so  large  and  grand  as  he  did  when  he  was 
aroused  in  debate. 

Webster's  Ik 'ad  was  phenomenal  in  size,  and 
beauty  of  outline,  and  grandeur  of  appearance. 
It  used  to  be  said  of  him  that  he  had  brain 
enough  to  make  several  good  heads.  His  brow- 
was  so  protuberant  that  his  eyes,  though  un- 
usually large,  seemed  sunken,  and  were  likened 
unto  "great  burning  lamps  set  deep  in  the 
mouths  of  caves."  But  large  as  his  Perceptive 
organs  were,  his  Reflectives  bulged  out  over 
them.  His  causality  was  massively  developed  ; 
and  his  organ  of  comparison,  which  was  larger 
even  than  his  causality,  protruded  as  though 
nature,  in  building  Webster's  head,  having  dis- 
tributed her  superabundant  material  as  well  as 
she  could,  found  at  the  last  thai  she  bad  such  a 
lot  of  brain  matter  left  on  hand,  that,  in  despair, 
she  dabbed  it  on  in  front  and  let  it  take  its 
chance  of  sticking;  and  it  stuck.     The  head, 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  253 

the  face,  the  whole  presence  of  Webster,  was 
kingly,  majestic, godlike.  A\u\  when  one  heard 
him  speak,  he  found  that  Webster's  voice  was 
just  exactly  the  kind  of  voice  that  sucli  a  look- 
ing man  ought  to  have.  It  was  deep,  resonant, 
mellow,  sweet,  with  a  thunder  roll  in  it  which, 
when  let  out  to  its  full  power,  was  awe  inspir- 
ing. In  ordinary  speech  its  magnificent  bass 
notes  rolled  forth  like  the  rich  tones  of  a  deep- 
voiced  organ  ;  but  when  he  chose  to  do  so,  he 
could  elevate  his  voice  in  ringing,  clarion, 
tenor  tones  of  thrilling  power.  He  also  had  a 
faculty  of  magnifying  a  word  into  such  pro- 
digious volume  and  force  that  it  would  drop 
from  his  lips  as  a  great  boulder  might  drop 
through  the  ceiling,  and  jar  the  Senate  chamber 
like  a  clap  of  thunder. 

The  color  of  Mr.  Webster's  hair,  at  this 
period  of  his  life  (1848)  was  a  rich  iron  gray. 
His  complexion  was  dark  bronze.  When  lie 
became  animated,  his  complexion  would  glow 
so  that   his  appearance  made  one  think   of  a 


354  GREAT    SENATORS. 

transparent    bronze    statue,  brilliantly    lighted 

from  within,  with  the  luminosity  shining  out 
through  the  countenance.  On  such  occasions  a 
singular  light  -would  play,  or  seem  to  play,  upon 
his  massive  forehead,  which  was  perhaps  a 
reflection  from  the  great  luminous  eyes  that 
glowed  with  starlike  splendor  beneath  his  over- 
hanging brows.  And  from  this  magnificent 
presence  there  emanated  an  atmosphere  and 
-.use  of  power— of  power  that  could  he  felt,  of 
power  which  seized  upon  the  imagination  of  the 
beholder,  and  held  him  breathless  when  he  first 
felt  it,  as  one  stands  breathless  when  he  sudden- 
ly comes  into  the  presence  of  a  scene  in  nature 
whose  sublimity  is  overwhelming.  Nor  when 
this  first  startling  effect  became  toned  down  by 
time,  did  the  Impression  of  Webster's  power 
grow  any  less;  as  one  repeatedly  saw  him,  or 
became  more  intimate  with  him.  the  sense  and 
conviction  <»f  hi-  power,  Instead  of  growing  1< 
increased  ;  and  whenever  he  was  aroused,  and 
began  to  put   forth  his  power,  one  fell  that  it 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 

was  measureless,  fathomless,  endless ;  that 
there  were  vast  floods  of  it  still  in  reserve  and 
ready  to  be  poured  forth  on  sufficient  provo- 
cation. 

-r  II.     Webster's    First    Appearance    (of    the 

Session)  in  the  Senate. 

I  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  Webster  as 
he  looked  the  first  time  I  saw  him.  He  had 
been  ill,  and  several  weeks  elapsed,  after  the 
session  of  Congress  began,  before  he  came  into 
the  Senate  chamber.  I  was  occupying  the 
reporter's  seat  then  assigned  to  the  members  of 
the  Intelligencer's  corps,  one  forenoon,  when 
there  was  a  good  deal  of  noise  and  bustle  in  the 
Senate,  but  no  debate  going  on.  Suddenly 
silence  fell  upon  the  chamber.  I  looked  up  and  ' 
saw  all  eyes  turned  in  the  direction  of  an  aisle 
which  led  from  one  of  the  doors  past  the 
reporter's  seat.  I  looked  to  see  what  it  was 
that  so  rivetted  everybody's  attention.  It  was 
Webster,      He   was  coming  slowly  along   the 


256  GREAT    SENATORS. 

aisle  directly  towards  me.  I  knew  him,  partly 
from  pictures  I  had  seen  of  him,  but  more  from 
tli«'  lad  thai  I  felt  it  could  not  be  anybody  else, 
for,  at  the  moment,  I  had  an  unreflecting,  boy- 
ish feeling  that  there  could  not  be  two  such 
men  in  the  world  at  the  same  time,  and  thai 
this  one  must  be  Webster.  He  was  pale,  and 
walked  feebly.  But  the  picturesque  majesty 
was  there  ;  the  overpowering  intellectuality  was 
there.  That  enormous  and  beautiful  head. 
those  wonderful  eyes,  that  stately  carriage,  that 
Jovelike  front,  all  proclaimed  that  the  godlike 
Daniel  had  come  into  the  Senate  House  and  was 
advancing  to  his  seat.     ^ 

The  silence  with  which  Webster  was  received 
on  that  occasion  was  like  the  silence  which  his 
appearance  in  the  Senate  chamber,  or  hi-  rising 
to  speak,  always  caused.  No  other  Senator  was 
ever  Listened  to  with  the  respeel  which  he  com- 
manded. When  Benton  addressed  the  Senate, 
there  was  more  than  ordinary  attention  ac- 
corded to  him.     WTien  Calhoun  spoke,  he  was 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  257 

listened  to  with  more  attention  than  Benton 
received;    Clay   was    still  more  favored   than 

Calhoun  ;  but  when  Webster  arose  there  was 
instantly  a  solemn  hush,  and  the  intense  solici- 
tude of  great  and  eager  expectation  at  once 
became  regnant.  Information  that  Webster 
was  up  spread  like  wildfire,  and  the  Senate 
chamber  was  immediately  packed  with  eager 
listeners. 

Webster  was  in  miserable  health  nearly  the 
entire  session,  and  only  looked  his  best  on  a  few 
occasions  when  his  indignation  was  roused 
almost  to  rage.  He  sometimes  had  a  cadaver- 
ous appearance,  as  though  on  the  verge  of 
dissolution ;  he  seemed  absorbed  and  uncon- 
scious of  his  surroundings,  and  a  woe- begone 
expression  often  overshadowed  his  lionlike 
countenance.  But  well  or  ill,  his  rising  to 
speak  was  a  signal  for  silence  and  concentrated 
attention.  In  "Paradise  Lost,"  Milton,  in 
describing  the  rising  of  a  supernatural  orator  to 
address  a  supernatural  audience,  gives  the  only 


258  GREAT    SENATORS. 

exacl  description  of  Webster,  as  he  looked  in 

those  davs,  when  he  arose  bo  address  the  Senate, 

•. 

that  1  have  ever  mel  with. 

'•  With  grave 
Aspect  he  rose,  and  in  his  rising  seemed 
A  pillar  of  State;   deep  on  his  front  engraven 
Deliberation  sat,  and  public  care ; 
And  primely  counsel  in  his  face  y«t  Bhone, 
Majestic,  though  in  ruin.     Sage  he  stood, 
With  Atlantean  Bhoulders,  tit  to  bear 
The  weight  of  mightiesl  monarchies;  his  look 
Drew  audience  and  attention  still  as  oight 
<  >r  summer's  noontide  air." 

III.  Webster's    mental  make-up.— His    ora- 
tory. 

Webster's  mental  make-up  was,  beyond  all 
question,  the  mosl  wonderful  ever  known  on 
this  continent.     His  perceptive    faculties  were 

keen,  so  acquisitive  and  so  retentive  thai 
nothing  eluded  their  observation  or  escaped 
from  their  grasp;  and  his  analytical  and 
reasoning  powers  were  so  greal  thai  the]  could 
rapidly  and  logically  work  up  all  the  materials 
which  his  Perceptives  supplied  them  with.     Hi- 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  259 

imagination  was  vivfd,  and  his  veneration  was 
so  large  and  active  that  its  influence  pervaded 

his  affections  and  imparted  an  elevated  and 
reverent  quality  to  the  operations  of  his  mind. 
Tims  his  observing,  knowing,  reflecting  and 
descriptive  faculties  were  all  powerfully  devel- 
oped, while  his  imagination  and  reverence  gave 
him  great  richness  and  elevation  of  style.  He 
was  unrivalled  in  stating  a  case,  or  in  describ- 
ing a  scene  or  a  situation,  or  in  developing  an 
argument,  or  in  telling  a  story  or  an  anecdote, 
or  in  appealing  to  the  imagination  or  the  sym- 
pathies of  intelligent  people. 

In  order  to  understand  Webster's  greatness, 
we  must  take  into  consideration  the  important 
truth  that  the  aggregation  or  multiplication  of 
inferiority  cannot  produce  superiority.  It  is 
said  that  the  famous  race  horse  Eclipse  could 
run  a  mile  in  a  minute.  That  being  the  fact, 
it  would  be  no  use  to  get  together  a  score  of 
horses  that  could  not  run  a  mile  in  less  than 
two  minutes,  with  the  expectation    of  having 


200  GREAT    sKNATniis. 

them  all  together  outrun  Eclipse.  Speed  can- 
not be  compassed  by  aggregating  slowni 
Webster's  brain  was  so  much  larger  than  other 
brains,  and  of  so  much  finer  quality,  that  it 
developed  an  intellectual  power  which  was 
relatively  to  the  power  of  other  brains  what  the 
speed  of  Eclipse  was  relatively  to  the  speed  of 
his  rivals  on  the  turf.  It  was  absolutely  unap- 
proachable. A  whole  Senate  chamberful  of 
other  and  lesser  minds  could  not  successfully 
grapple  with  that  one  mind,  any  more  than  a 
whole  field  of  less  speedy  horses  could  cope  with 
the  matchless  Eclipse. 

Webster  had  the  advantage  of  having  a 
body  large  enough  to  support  his  largo  brain. 
And  then  his  temperaments  bilious,  nervous, 
sanguine  and  Lymphatic— were  so  completely 
harmonized,  and  his  whole  physical  organism 
was  so  thoroughly  correlated  with  them,  that 
his  vast  brain  power  was  perpetually  nourished 
and  kept  in  a  vigorous  Btate  of  recuperation. 
This    gave     him     a     wonderfully     symmetrical 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  261 

combination  of  menial  powers  which  issued  in 
a  substantialness  and  fineness  of  mind  that 
made  his  intellect  unrivalled  for  strength, 
endurance,  warmth,  susceptibility  and  elas- 
ticity ;  for  clearness,  depth  and  breadth  of  view, 
and  for  acuteness  of  penetration  and  tenacity 
of  grip.  Wherefore,  when  Webster  was  thor- 
oughly aroused,  his  power  was  irresistible. 
Benton  had  remarkable  ability  in  building  up 
an  argument  out  of  hard  facts  cemented  with 
ingenious  reasoning.  Like  a  military  engineer, 
he  would  construct  fortification  after  fortifica- 
tion, and  combine  thei.  so  they  would  mutually 
support  one  another,  and  be  impregnable 
against  the  assaults  of  his  opponents,  except 
when  Webster  assailed  them.  But  what  fort- 
ress so  strong  that  it  can  withstand  the  earth- 
quake's shock  ?  And  when  Webster  was  fully 
aroused,  he  at  once  plunged  down  to  the  basic 
principles  underlying  the  subject,  and  his  resist- 
less reasoning,  rising  from  unfathomable  logical 
depths,  with  earthquake    force   upheaved   the 


262  GREAT     SENATORS. 

foundations  of  the  strongest  intellectual  fortress 
that  could  be  reared  against  him,  and  tumbled 
the  whole  fabric  in  ruins. 

There  was  one  trait  of  Webster's  mind 
which  seems  never  to  have  been  understood; 
and  that  was  its  subtlety.  He  was  so  powerful, 
and  knew  his  power  so  well,  that  he  almost 
always  preferred  to  win  his  battles  by  sheer 
main  strength.  But  when  he  chose  to  resort  to 
insinuating  shrewdness,  he  could  beat,  at  their 
own  game,  any  of  his  opponents  who  relied  on 
their  subtlety  for  success.  Scott's  anecdote  of 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion's  showing  his  strength 
by  severing  a  thick  bar  of  iron  with  one  blow 
of  his  ponderous  sword,  while  his  Saracenic 
rival,  Saladin,  proved  his  skill  by  cutting  in 
twain  a  piece  of  floating  gossamer  with  his 
subtle  blade,  is  often  used  to  illustrate  the 
mental  difference  of  intellectual  rivals.  In 
comparing  Webster  with  Calhoun,  it  lias  been 
customary  to  assume  thai  Webster  i^>  repre- 
sented  by    Richard   and   Calhoun   by    Saladin, 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  263 

There  is  no  doubt,  whatever,  that  Calhoun 
possessed  a  mind  of  almost  superhuman  acute- 
ness  and  subtlety  ;  but  it  was  not  so  acute  nor 
so  subtle  as  Webster's  ;  for,  although,  meta- 
phorically speaking,  Webster  wielded  the 
ponderous  blade  of  Richard  with  unequalled 
strength,  he  also  handled  the  subtle  cimeter  of 
Saladin  with  unrivalled  skill. 

In  truth,  Webster's  mind  was  both  tele- 
scopic and  microscopic  ;  his  comprehension  was 
both  vast  and  minute,  and  took  in  the  slightest 
facts  as  well  as  the  grandest  principles. 
Intellectually,  his  reach  was  vast  and  compre- 
hensive, his  grasp  strong  and  tenacious,  his 
touch  sensitive  and  delicate.  His  powers  of 
delineation  and  elucidation  were  so  great  that 
he  could  group  the  details  of  his  subject  so  that 
every  fact  and  point  and  principle  would  stand 
out  from  the  lucid  depths  of  his  argument  clear 
as  crystals,  and  then  he  could  unfold  and  illus- 
trate his  points  with  captivating  beauty  of  diction 
and  majesty  of  style,  investing  his  theme  with 


2$4  Great  benatoM 

ideal  attractiveness,  and  pouring  through  it  all 
a  stream  of  the  clearest  reasoning  and  the 
soundest  philosophy.  His  taste  was  severe  :  he 
never  said  a  word  too  much,  nor  used  a  word 
thai  was  noi  suited  to  his  purpose.  When  his 
heart  was  deeply  moved  by  some  great  theme, 
and  his  affections  were  enlisted  in  his  cause, 
and  his  intellect  was  ablaze  with  the  truths  he 
was  developing,  his  eloquence  would  sometimes 
rise  to  dizzying  height-  and  be  illuminated  with 
bursts  of  dazzling  splendor,  which  were  never 
far-fetched  or  incongruous,  but  were  simply  the 
•natural  luminosity  of  the  intellectual  radiance 
shining  through  the  translucent  gems  of  his 
thought. 

Practically,  Webster's  mind  was  1 1 1 « -  perfec- 
tion of  commoD  sense.  No  matter  how  wide 
his  reasoning  ranged,  nor  how  high  his 
imagination  soared,  liis  judgment  never  lefl  its 
feet.  His  mind,  like  the  eternal  Word  described 
by  the  Son  of  Sirach,  though  '"it  touched  the 
heavens,    yel    stood    upon    the    earth."       His 


DANIEL  w  EBSTER  265 

powers  of  abstraction  and  concentration  were 
sogreal  fchat,  as  through  a  mental  sunglass,  he 
could  focus  the  burning  rays  of  his  genius  upon 
any  subject  he  was  discussing  until  he  set  it 
ablaze  with  luminous  demonstration.  His 
power  of  condensation  was  equally  great  ;  and 
his  condensation  never  clouded  his  style  nor 
obscured  his  argument.  Like  the  condensation 
of  the  diamond,  it  was  the  result  of  crystaliza- 
tion— of  absolute  perfection  in  the  adjustment 
of  parts,  and  the  elimination  from  its  substance 
of  whatever  would  tarnish  its  translucency. 

Quintilian,  in  his  immortal  "  Institutes  of 
Oratory,"  in  which  he  lavs  nearly  all  the  learn- 
ing and  eloquence  of  Greece  and  Rome  under 
contribution,  tells  us  that  a  plea,  or  an  oration, 
consists  of  five  parts— the  exordium,  the  state- 
ment of  fact,  proof  of  statement,  reply  to 
adversary,  and  peroration.  He  lays  great 
stress  upon  the  exordium,  and  says  it  should 
be  brief,  in  keeping  with  the  subject,  and  of 
such   a   nature   as   to    prepossess   the   tribunal 


266  GREAT    SENATORS. 

or  audience  in  favor  of  the  speaker  and  his 
cause.  Webster  was  a  roaster  of  exordium,  as 
witness  the  exordium  of  his  Plymouth  Rock 
Oration,  of  his  Oration  on  Laying  the  Corner- 
stone of  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  or  of  any  of 
his  greal  speeches,  and  especially  the  exordium 
of  his  speech  in  reply  to  Hayne.  Quintilian 
considers  the  statement  of  facts  of  paramount 
importance,  and  says  ii  mus<  be  lucid,  in  order 
that  it  maybe  easily  understood  ;  brief,  thai  it 
may  beeasily  remembered  ;  credible,  thai  it  may 
be  readily  believed.  Any  one  who  has  read  many 
of  Webster's  speeches  must  have  been  struck 
with  the  predominance  of  these  qualities— lucid- 
ity, brevity  and  credibility— in  his  statement  of 
facts.  It  used  to  be  said  of  him  thai  he  often 
won  his  cause  by  his  masterly  statement  of  it, 
which  was  so  clear  thai  everybody  understood 
it,  so  brief  thai  everybody  remembered  it,  30 
credible  thai  everybody  believed  it.  His  demon- 
stration of  his  statement,  his  reply  to  his  oppo- 
nents, and  his  peroration  were  equally  admirable, 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  267 

powerful  and  effective.  Hence  when  be  got 
through  with  a  subject,  there  was  a  pretty  gen- 
eral feeling  that  thai  was  all  there  was  of  it; 
that  it  would  be  useless  for  anybody  else  to  say 
anything  about  it  ;  that  Webster  had  been 
''given  a  mouth  and  wisdom  which  all  his 
adversaries  should  not  be  able  to  gainsay  i un- 
resist." Perhaps  I  cannot  more  appropriately 
conclude  this  delineation  of  Webster's  oratorical 
gifts  and  characteristics  than  by  applying  to 
him  a  paraphrase  of  what  Quint ilian  says  of 
Cicero,  to  wit :  That  in  his  grandest  efforts  he 
exhibited  the  energy  of  Demosthenes,  the  com- 
prehensiveness of  Plato,  and  the  sweetness  of 
Isocrates;  and  this,  not  by  reason  of  any  particu- 
lar study  of  those  great  models,  but  from  the 
felicitous  exuberance  of  his  immortal  genius. 

IV.  Webster  as  a  Parliamentary    Leader. 

When  Webster  chose  to  assume  the  attitude 
of  a  parliamentary  leader  in  the  Senate.  I  which 
he  seldom  did,)  he  played  the  eminent  mle  with 


GREAT    SENATORS. 

surpassing  ability.  I  saw  him  in  that  part  but 
once  :  it  was  on  an  occasion  which  called  forth 
all  his  varied  powers,  and  especially  his  tact  and 
subtlety.  It  was  the  last  night  of  the  session, 
and  of  Polk's  Administration,  Saturday,  March 
3,  1S4!>.  The  session  expired,  by  limitation,  at 
midnight,  at  which  hour  the  Thin  1**1 1 1  Congress 
completed  its  term  and  passed  into  history. 

What  was  then  called  the  Great  Civil  and 
Diplomatic  Appropriation  hill,  without  fche  pas- 
sage of  which  the  Government  could  not  go  on, 
for  want  of  funds,  still  hung  in  the  Senate, 
encumbered  with  amendments.  The  hill  estab- 
lishing the  Interior  Department  was  also  still 
before  the  Senate,  encumbered  with  amend- 
ments and  bitterly  opposed  by  a  Large  number 
of  Democratic  Senators  who  could  no1  tolerate 
the  idea  of  creating  a  uew  department  of  fche 
Government,  with  its  hundreds  of  clerkships, 
just  as  their  party  was  going  oul  of  power  and 
a  WTiig  Administration  was  coining  in. 

The  Enterior  Department  was  an  offshoot  of 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  :>,;:. 

the  Treasury  Department,  the  burdens  of  which 
had  become  so  enormous  that  it  was  necessary 
to  relieve  it  of  a  portion  of  them  by  the  creation 
of  a  new  department  to  which  they  could  be 
transferred.  The  bill  to  establish  the  Interior 
Department  was  drawn  by  Robert  J.  Walker. 
the  Democratic  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  who 
made  energetic  exertions  to  secure  its  passage. 
But,  notwithstanding  Mr.  Walker's  influence, 
nearly  all  the  Democratic  Senators  were  strongly 
opposed  to  the  bill,  and  a  few  of  the  Whig 
members  took  sides  against  it.  Calhoun  saw 
in  it  an  insidious  and  dangerous  attack  upon 
State  rights.     He  said  : 

"  Mr.  President,  there  is  something  ominous 
in  the  expression,  '  The  Secretary  of  the 
Interior.'  This  Government  was  made  to  take 
charge  of  the  exterior  relations  of  the  States. 
And  if  there  had  been  no  exterior  relations  the 
Federal  Government  would  never  have  existed 
— the  exterior  relations  with  foreign  countries 
and  the  exterior  relations  of  States  with  States, 


270  GREAT    SENATORS. 

and  that  only  carried  to  a  very  limited  extent. 
Sir,  the  name  'Interior  Department'  it.-' -IT 
indicates  a  great  change  in  the  public  mind. 
What  lias  been  the  cause?  We  are  told  that 
the  business  of  Government  now  has  become 
such  that  the  existing  departments  are  over- 
loaded, and  that  it  requires  a  new  department 
to  be  constituted.  *  *  *  If  the  departments 
are  overcharged,  what  has  been  the  cause  ? 
Has  it  not  resulted  from  the  overaction  of  our 
Government  \  Is  it  not  a  strong  admonition  to 
ii-  to  retrace  many  of  our  steps,  instead  of 
forming  new  machinery  to  give  a  new  impulse 
to  that  overaction  '.  and  a  very  powerful 
impulse  this  measure  will  give.  *  *  *  Every- 
thing upon  the  face  of  God's  earth  will  go  into 
this  Interior  Department— Indian  Affairs, 
Patenl  Office,  Land  Office,  Public  Buildings, 
all.  all  thrown  together  without  the  slightest 
connection.  This  thing  oughl  not  to  be.  This 
is  a  monstrous  bill.  It  is  ominous.  It  will 
;  i n-n  over  the  whole  interior  affairs  of  t  he  coun- 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  l'TI 

try  to  this  department;   and  it   is  one  of  the 

greatest  steps  that  ever  lias  been  made  in  my 
time  to  absorb  all  the  remaining  powers  of  ili»> 
States.  Sir,  it  is  time  to  stop.  Ours  is  a 
Federal  Government.  The  States  are  the  con- 
stituents of  the  Federal  Government.  It  is 
a  created,  and  it  is  a  supervisory  power.  We 
are,  step  by  step,  concentrating  and  consolidat- 
ing this  power,  until  finally  we  will  take  the 
last  and  final  step,  and  conduct  all  the  business 
under  the  name  of  the  'Department  of  the 
Interior.'  " 

Calhoun's  remarks,  of  which  I  have  given 
but  a  small  portion,  made  a  deep  impression  on 
Democratic  Senators,  especially  Southern  ones  ; 
and  Webster,  seeing  the  effect  which  had  been 
produced,  said  : 

u  The  argument  on  the  other  side  is  merely 
turning  on  a  word.  Why  call  this  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Interior  ?  The  impression  seems  t<> 
be  that  we  are  going  to  carry  the  power  of  the 
Government  further  into  the  interior  than  we 


272  GREAT    SENATORS. 

have  ever  done  before.  1  do  not  so  understand 
it.  Where  is  the  power?  It  is  only  that  cer- 
tain powers,  heretofore  exercised  by  certain 
agents,  are  to  be  exercised  by  oilier  agents. 
Thai  is  the  whole  of  it.  And  gentlemen  say  it 
is  creating  a  new  department  ;  overshadowing 
everything,  -wallowing  up  State  influence,  and 
overturning  all  the  glories  of  our  State  institu- 
tions. I  see  nothing  of  all  this.  I  see  nothing 
but  a  plain  practical  question.  *  *  "::"  There  is 
not  a  particle  of  this  bill,  not  a  sentence,  for 
extending  the  powers  of  the  Government.  It 
is  a  bill  for  appointing  a  new  agent,  for  the 
exercise  of  already  existing  powers — nothing 
else  under  heaven." 

That  settled  the  State  Bights  argument. 
Tin-  bill,  however,  was  fiercely  assailed  by  the 
opposing  Democratic  Senators  :  but  Webster, 
powerfully  assisted  by  Senator  Davis,  of  Missis- 
sippi, finally  triumphed  over  all  opposition,  the 
amendments  of  the  Senate  were  receded  from, 
and  the  bill  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  31  to  25. 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  273 

Soon  after  the  passage  of  the  Interior 
Department  bill,  the  hour  of  midnight  struck, 
and  it  was  assumed,  by  a  number  of  Senators, 
that  the  session  of  the  Senate  had  expired. 
But  it  was  suggested  that  it  would  not  do  to 
adjourn  until  the  Civil  and  Diplomatic  Appro- 
priation bill  had  been  passed,  inasmuch  as  the 
omission  to  pass  that  bill  would  leave  the 
Government  without  funds,  and  compel  the 
incoming  President  to  call  an  extra  session  of 
Congress.  This  plea  had  no  weight  with  the 
very  scrupulous  Senators  who  could  not  think 
of  doing  anything  so  unparliamentary  as  to 
proceed  with  legislation  after  the  Thirtieth  Con 
gress  had,  as  they  alleged,  expired.  Benton, 
Cass,  Calhoun,  and  several  other  Senators,  sat 
silent  in  their  seats.  It  was  understood  that 
they  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  session  of  the 
Senate  had  terminated  at  midnight.  Here  was 
certainly  a  very  grave  question,  and  Senators 
did  not  seem  to  know  what  to  do  about  it.  At 
last    Webster  arose.     All    eyes  were    fixed  on 


274  GREAT    SENATORa 

him.  He  spoke  briefly.  After  a  few  explana- 
tory words,  be  said:  "I  am  of  opinion  thai 
the  session  of  this  House,  which  commenced  od 
this  third  day  of  March,  until  we  vote  upon  the 
Appropriation  bills,  must  continue  without 
regard  to  CLOCKS  I"  The  word  clocks  filled 
ih»'  Senate  Chamber  with  articulate  thunder, 
every  reverberation  of  which  expressed  the 
in  most  scorn  of  the  idea  that  the  session  of  the 
Senate  had  come  to  an  end.  It  seemed  as 
though  Webster  had  smashed  the  horologe  of 
Time,  and  that  clocks  should  be  no  more.  That 
one  word,  as  hurled  forth  by  Webster,  seemed 
to  settle  the  question  ;  but  he  added  a  few 
sentences  to  give  Senators  suflficieni  reasons  for 
holding  thai  the  Senate  was  still  in  lawful  ses- 
sion, and  would  be  in  lawful  session  until  it 
should  of  its  own  motion  adjourn. 

A  few  minutes  afterwards  a  message  was 
received  from  the  House  of  Representatives, 
which  threatened  to  defeat  the  passage  of  tin1 
Civil    and    Diplomatic    Appropriation    bill,    to 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  275 

which  a  portentous  amendment,  providing  a 
government  for  the  Territories  of  New  Mexico 
and  California,  had  been  proposed  by  Senator 
Walker,  of  Wisconsin,  on  February  20th. 
Senator  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  offered  a  voluminous 
amendment  to  Mr.  Walker's  amendment. 
Webster  proposed  another  amendment  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  both  Walker's  and  Bell's;  and  Sen- 
ator Dayton,  of  New  Jersey,  offered  still  another 
.nn.'i idment  modifying  Webster's.  The  attempt 
to  engraft  a  bill  for  the  government  of  Territories 
upon  an  appropriation  bill  was  looked  upon  by 
many  Senators  as  unprecedented  and  unparlia- 
mentary, and  it  led  to  prolonged  debates.  The 
Appropriation  bill  was  finally  sent  back  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  where  it  originated, 
with  several  dozen  amendments,  including  what 
was  called  the  California  amendment  (the  one 
providing  a  government  for  Territories),  which 
was  No.  53  on  the  list.  The  message  received 
after  midnight  from  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives announced  that  said  House  had  concurred 


276  OR?:  AT     SENATORS. 

in  tlit-  53rd  amendment  of  the  Senate,  with  an 
amendment  (of  their  own)  to  that  53rd  amend- 
ment, in  which  they  asked  the  concurrence  of 
fche  Senate;  and  that  they  had  receded  from 
their  disagreement  to  the  other  amendments  of 
the  Senate. 

This  action  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
up. «ned  the  door  to  an  endless  debate.     Their 
amendment  to  the   Senate's    amendment   was 
obnoxious  to  Southern  Senators,  some  of  whom 
thought  they  saw  a  lurking  Wilmot  Proviso  in 
it.       Other    Senators   objected    in    t<>t<>  to   the 
foisting  of  a  territorial  bill  upon  an  appropria- 
tion bill,  while  others  revived  the  question  of 
the    incompetency   of    the  Senate  to   legislate 
after   the   hour   of   mid  night.      Others   offered 
additional  amendments  to  the  existing  amend- 
ments, so  that  an  amendment  to  an  amendment 
t,,  an  amendmenl  to  an  amendment,  running 
back   like   "  The  Bouse  thai   Jack  Built,"  was 
before  the  Senate,  with  oilier  motions  piled  on 
top  of  motions      In  the  midsi   of  the  turmoil. 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  277 

Senator  Yulee,  of  Florida,  made  a  motion  to 
adjourn  sine  die,  but  nobody  paid  any  attention 
to  it,  and  the  confusion  increased.  Senator 
Turney,  of  Tennessee,  who  seemed  to  be  in  great 
mental  and  moral  distress,  solemnly  requested 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  should  be  direct- 
ed to  note  the  hour  upon  the  journal .  This  caused 
a  lull,  while  every  Senator  looked  at  his  watch, 
or  at  the  Senate  clock.  It  was  then  20  minutes 
past  2  o'clock  a.  m.  I  will  iio\m*  copy  a  few 
lines  from  the  record. 

Mr.  Webster.     What  is  the  question  ? 

Presiding  Officer.  The  question  is  upon 
the  motion  to  adjourn  sine  die. 

Mr.  Webster.  I  protest  against  it.  We 
have  no  right  to  adjourn  without  the  consent  of 
the  other  House. 

A  Senator.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  has  gone  home.* 

Mr.  Webster.  Very  well,  if  he  chooses  to 
go  ;  but  we  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  sending 
him  a  bill  between  this  and  10  o'clock  to-mor- 

*  It  was  customary  for  a  President,  when  there  was  a  session 
of  Congress  on  the  last  night  of  his  term,  to  occupy  a  commit- 
tee room  in  the  Capitol,  where  bills,  as  they  were  passed,  could 
be  brought  to  him  for  his  signature;  and  President  Polk  had 
been  in  attendance,  in  accordance  with  that  custom. 


278  GREAT    BENATORS. 

row  morning;.     I  protesl  against  it  for  the  sake 
o(  tlif  republic. 

This  was  an  effectual  notice  by  Webster  thai 
he  was  going  to  hold  on  till  the  Appropriation 
bill  was  passedj  and  the  notice  was  emphasized 
by  the  decision  of  the  Presiding  Officer  thai 
Webster's  point  against  adjournment  was  wel] 
taken,  and  that  the  Senate  could  not  adjourn 
sine  die  without  the  consent  of  the  Hon-'  of 
Representatives.  This  point  having  been  & 
rest,  the  debate  onthe  Appropriation  hill  pro- 
ceeded. As  the  discussion  went  on,  Senators  go1 
excited,  called  one  another  names  in  a  parlia- 
mentary way.  and  became  savage  in  attack  and 
venomous  in  retort. 

Sometimes  the  confusion  w*as  so  greal  that 
Bpeakers  could  noi  be  heard,  and  il  was  impos- 
sible for  the  reporters  to  follow  the  line  of 
debate  through  the  overwhelming  turmoil. 
Senator  Foote,of  Mississippi,  boisterously  insisted 
t  li.it  i  he  session  had  terminated  al  midnight  ; 
thai  Senators  whoso  term  of  office  expired  on 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  279 

the  third  of  March  were  no  longer  members  of 
the  Senate  and  had  no  right  to  take  pari  in  the 
proceedings;  that,  in  fact,  the  assemblage  was 
ii"i  a  senate,  bul  a  public  assembly,  a  town- 
meeting,  thai  was  Legislating  withoul  a  shadow 
of  authority.  He  became  so  intolerably  weari- 
some and  offensive  that  at  last  he  was  hissed. 
This  only  caused  him  to  talk  still  more  volubly, 
and  finally  groans  were  heard.  "I  know  my 
rights,  and  will  maintain  them,  too,''  exclaimed 
Senator  Foote,  "in  spite  of  all  the  groans  that 
may  come  from  any  quarter.  Groans  will  have 
no  effect  on  me,"  he  magniloquently  declared, 
''even  though  they  shall  equal  the  thunders  of 
the  most  terrific  volcano  that  ever  shook  the 
eternal  mountains."  And  on  he  talked,  with 
tantalising  verbosity. 

When  things  had  got  at  their  worst,  and 
everybody  was  utterly  weary  of  the  arid  turmoil, 
Webster  arose,  and  ignoring  all  the  folly  and  ill- 
temper  which  had  been  exhibited,  he  staled  the 
legislative  situation  and  pointed  oul  the  precise 


280  GREAT    SENATORS. 

work  to  be  done  in  order  to  accomplish  what 
ought  to  be  accomplished  before  the  Senate 
adjourned.  His  statement  exhibited  all  the 
Quintilian  characteristics — lucidity,  brevity  and 
credibility  -in  the  highest  degree.  And  there 
was  a  matter-of-course  air  pervading  it,  a  lofty 
and  coin  icons  taking  it  for  granted  that  every 
nirinlMT  of  the  Senate  agreed  with  him,  which 
was  irresistibly  attractive  and  persuasive.  That 
power  of  his,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  mani- 
fested itself  by  drawing  the  minds  of  Senators 
in  the  wake  of  his  mind  as  a  vast  and  power- 
fully propelled  steamer  draws  floating  objects  in 
its  wake.  A  parliamentary  calm  followed  his 
remarks,  and  a  sensible  and  dignified  discussion 
of  the  questions  at  issue  was  begun. 

I  never  saw,  on  any  other  occasion,   such 

power,  such  tact,  SUCh  wisdom,  such  wit,  such 
humor,  such  dialectic  skill,  such  profound 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  such  all-embracing 
common  sense  as  Webster  displayed  thai  night, 
or  rather,  thai    morning.     Be  was  opposed  by 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  281 

some  of  the  ablest  ;md  most  adroit  debaters  in 
the  Senate,  and  by  several  of  the  most  ignorant 

and  stupid  ones.  The  able  debaters  he  drove  out 
of  the  field  with  the  heavy  artillery  of  his  logic  ; 
the  adroit  ones  be  tripped  up  with  superior  dia- 
lectic skill,  and  left  them  lying  helpless  ;  the 
vain  and  ignorant  ones  be  soothed  into  qui- 
escence with  consummate  tact  and  laid  them 
away  in  beds  of  downy  flattery  to  self  conceit- 
ed repose  ;  the  pretentious  and  contentious  ones 
he  either  crushed  by  downright  logical  force,  or 
else  persuasively  coerced  them  into  silence  by 
elegant  sarcasm.  He  took  interruptions  with 
imperturbable  patience,  with  but  one  exception. 
Senator  Foote  repeatedly  asked  permission  of 
him,  on  different  occasions,  "to  be  allowed  just 
to  make  a  few  remarks  in  explanation,"  etc.,  and 
Webster  goodnaturedly  gave  way.  But  at  last, 
when  the  discussion  was  hinging  on  a  critical 
point,  and  Webster  was  speaking  with  great  con- 
ciseness and  power,  Foote  jumped  up  and  said, 
11  Will  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  allow  me 


282  GREAT    SENATORS. 

to  state  "  ■*  [f  the  Senator  will  be  brief,"  inter- 
posed Webster.  "  For  God's  sake  be  brief/'he 
added,  with  a  volume  of  voice  and  a  thunder 
roar  which  swept  Foote  out  of  the  debate  so 
effectually  thai  he  didn't  gel  back  into  it  for 
nearly  an  hour. 

The  Senate  repeatedly  got  into  whal  seemed 
inextricable  parliamentary  tangles,  with  mo- 
tions piled  on  motions  and  amendments  upon 
amendments.  In  every  such  case  Webster 
would  disengage  the  taugles  with  inexhaustible 

patience  and  the  most  cheerful  g 1  humor.    In 

short,  the  magnificent  old  chieftain  was  so 
good-natured,  s<»  witty,  so  humorous,  so  vasl 
and  comprehensive,  so  terse  and  Lucid,  so  high- 
toned  and  majestic  thai  he  constantly  inspired 
not  only  good  will  and  friendliness,  but 
admiration  and  awe,  and  finally  gained  an  all- 
commanding  influence  over  the  Senate.  ks 
the  hours  passed  on,  Ins  opponents  gave  up 
point  after  point  ;  the  Senate's  amendment  to 
the  Appropriation   bill    was  receded   from,   the 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  283 

bill  was  passed,  and  the  Senate  adjourned  at  7 

o'clock  on  Sunday  morning. 

I  recently  read  that  entire  debate,  as  it 
si  a  nds  defectively  reported  in  the  Congressional 
Globe,  and  felt  a  keen  regret  on  realizing  how 
impossible  it  is  for  people,  who  have  only  the 
printed  record  of  such  memorable  scenes,  to  get 
anything  approaching  to  an  adequate  idea  of 
their  true  character.  If  the  sun  were  removed 
from  our  solar  system,  and  it  were  possible  for 
mankind  to  survive  its  removal,  and  years 
afterwards  people  who  never  saw  the  sun 
should  read  an  account  of  what  our  system  was 
before  the  sun  was  removed,  they  would  get 
just  about  as  vivid  a  notion  of  the  truth  as  a 
person  who  never  saw  Webster  in  animated, 
vehement  debate  would  get  in  reading  a  report 
of  that  Senatorial  scene,  in  which  he  was  the 
central  orb,  from  which  emanated  so  much  of 
its  light  and  warmth  and  power  and  glory. 


2SJ:  GREAT    SENATOR& 

V.  I  )ihi:i:  Characteristics— Webster's  Incom- 
putable Service  to  the  Country. 

It  is  acknowledged  by  every  one  who  is 
acquainted  with  the  facts  that  Webster  was  as 
preeminent  in  intellectual  power  as  I  have 
represented  him  ;  that  Horace  Greeley  spoke 
the  truth  when  he  said  :  'k  Webster's  intellect 
is  the  greatest  emanation  from  the  Almighty 
Mind  now  embodied."  It  is  also  acknowl- 
edged that  Webster  was  somewhat  lack- 
ing in  character.  It  is,  of  course,  understood 
that  character  does  not  come  from  intellect,  but 
from  morality,  virtue,  benevolence,  courage, 
conscientiousness,  firmness,  fortitude.  A  man 
may  have  a  transcendent  intellect,  and  yet  be  a 
coward,  a  liar,  a  thief,  a  scoundrel  of  the  mosl 
despicable  kind  — 

"The  wisest,  brightest,  meanest  of  mankind," 

Pope  wrote  of  Lord  Bacon.     Webster's  firm 
ness,    Belf-esteem    and    conscientiousness   were 


DANIKL  WEBSTER. 

comparatively  weak;  and  this  organic  defed 

was  sometimes  manifested  in  moral  obtuseness 
and  infirmity  of  purpose.  For  this  reason, 
Webster  never  was  and  never  could  be  a  popular 
party  leader  like  Clay.  In  an  intellectual 
contest,  no  human  being  could  contend  success- 
fully with  Webster  ;  but  when  the  intellectual 
contest  was  ended,  and  the  victory  won,  he 
would  lapse  into  indifference  and  suffer  the 
fruits  of  his  victory  to  be  snatched  from  him  by 
men  of  inferior  intellect.  Perhaps  it  was 
fortunate  that  his  nature  was  thus  defective ; 
because,  if,  in  addition  to  his  vast  and  match- 
less intellect,  he  had  had  the  imperious  charac- 
ter and  indomitable  will  of  Clay  or  Benton,  he 
might  have  become  an  intolerable  dictator  in 
public  affairs,  and  been  too  powerful  and 
predominant  for  his  country's  good.  In  a 
government  "  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for 
the  people,"  the  people  must  govern  themselves, 
and  there  is  no  room  anywhere  for  a  dictator. 
The  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 


GREAT    SENATORS. 

States  little  know  how  much'  they  are  indebted 
to  Daniel  Webster.  He  did  for  us  a  work  which, 
in  its  way,  was  as  necessary  and  valuable  as  the 
work  done  for  us  by  Washington  was  in  its 
way.  He  taught  the  country  what  the  true 
nature  of  its  government  is.  He  logically, 
powerfully,  clearly  and  popularly  demonstrated 
the  baneful  character  of  the  disunion  and 
secession  heresy,  which,  started  by  Quincy,  was 
afterwards  so  destructively  wrought  out  by 
Calhoun.  If  it  had  not  been  for  Webster, 
Calhoun  would  have  carried  everything  before 
him  ;  there  was  nobody  else  who  could  cope 
successfully  with  the  brilliant  South  Carolina 
dialectician,  or  with  his  equally  brilliant  coad- 
jutor, Hayne.  Audit"  the  country  had  become 
convinced  thai  the  alleged  right  of  secession 
was  in  very  truth  and  fad  a  constitutional 
right,  and  that  any  State  might  const  itutionally 
secede  from  the  Union  when  it  imagined  itself 
to  have  a  sufficienl  provocation  for  doing  so, 
what    would   have  been  the  inevitable  resull  i 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  287 

The  result  would  have  been  that  the  people 
would  not  have  fought  to  maintain  the  Union. 
and  we  should  now  he  dissevered,  discordant 
and  belligerent,  instead  of  united,  fraternal  and 
prosperous,  sweeping  on  to  a  destiny  of  incon- 
ceivable grandeur.  But  Webster,  having  won 
the  battle  for  the  Union  in  the  Senate,  the 
people  were  ready  to  win,  and  did  win  the 
battles  for  the  Union  in  the  field  : 

"  Nor  is  it  aught  but  just. 
That  he,  who  in  debate  of  truth  hath  won, 
Should  win  in  arms,  in  both  disputes  alike 
Victor." 

VI.  An      occasion      when     Webster     was 

ENRAGED. 

In  the  ordinary  course  of  legislation,  Web- 
ster did  not  speak  often.  It  wras  only  when 
some  important  topic  was  before  the  Senate 
that  he  condescended  to  mingle  in  the  debate. 
On  one  occasion  he  was  thoroughly  aroused, 
and  electrified  the  Senate  with  a  terrific  burst 
of  indignation.     It  was  when  a  side  issue  on 


GREAT     SENATORS. 

slavery  was  under  discussion,  and  the  debate 
was  so  irritating  that  nearly  every  one  who 
took  part  in  it  lost  his  temper.  But  lor.  of 
South  Carolina,  (Calhoun's  colleague,)  became 
very  angry  and  indulged  in  a  fierce  and  vitu- 
perative attack  on  what  he  called  the  had  faith 
of  the  North.  He  accused  the  Northern  States 
of  breaking  every  compromise  ever  entered 
into  between  them  and  the  South  as  Boon  as 
they  could  see  a  chance  to  make  money  by 
breaking  a  compromise.  He  declared  that  this 
had  faith  had  been  exhibited  so  often  on  the 
part  of  the  North,  that  he  had  become  sick  of 
tip'  word  compromise  ;  or.  as  he  put  it.  smiting 
himself,  as  he  spoke,  upon  his  bosom:  "lam 
sick  .it  h-ea-r-r-r-t  of  the  word  compromise." 

When  Senator  Butler  sat  down,  W<  bster 
was  seen  to  be  getting  up.  1  use  thai  form  of 
expression,  because  the  getting  up  of  Daniel  Web- 
ster was  not  a  mere  act  ;  it  was  ;i  process.  The 
reader  may  have  seen  an  elephant  gel  up,  and 
may  have  been  impressed  with  the  magnitude 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  289 

and  evolutionary  character  of  the  operation. 
Webster's  getting  up  was  vastly  more  impres- 
sive, because  it  was  intellectualized,  moralized, 
spiritualized.  The  beholder  saw  the  most 
wonderful  head  that  his  vision  ever  rested  on 
rising  slowly  in  the  air  ;  he  saw  a  lionlike  coun- 
tenance, with  great,  deep  set,  luminous  eyes, 
gazing  at  him  with  solemn  majesty  ;  in  short, 
he  saw  the  godlike  Daniel  getting  on  his  feet, 
and  his  heart  thrilled  at  the  thought  of  what 
might  be  coming. 

On  the  occasion  to  which  I  refer,  as  soon  as 
Webster  arose,  information  of  the  fact  was 
circulated  all  through  the  Capitol.  "  Webster's 
up,  and  he's  mad,"  was  the  smothered  cry  which 
sounded  through  the  corridors  and  ante-cham- 
bers. That  was  sufficient  to  excite  the  liveliest 
interest.  The  Senate  chamber  was  immediately 
filled  by  an  eagerly  expectant  audience.  After 
Webster  got  upon  his  feet,  he  slowly  rocked 
himself  back  and  forth  for  a  few  moments,  with 
his  head  bowed  and  his  hands  clasped  behind 


290  GREAT    SENATORS. 

him.     Then   he    looked    up,    and   around,    and 
fixed  his  gaze  upon  Butler. 

"  Bis  look 
Drew  audience  and  attention  still  as  night 
Or  summer's  noontide  air." 

The  suspense  was  intolerable.  Every  heart 
stood  still.  Slowly  unclasping  his  hands,  and 
letting  them  fall  by  his  side,  and  speaking  in 
low,  deep,  musical,  metallic  tones,  surcharged 
with  intensity  and  power,  Webster  said  : 

"Mr.  President,  the  honorable  member  from 
South  Carolina,  who  has  just  taken  his  seat, 
says  that  he  is  prepared  to  say  boldly  that  the 
Northern  States  have  not  observed,  but  have 
broken  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution." 

Me.  Brj  dler  (in  his  seat).     "  I  said  it." 

Mk.  Wkijstkk.  "  Yes,  Mr.  President,  he 
said  it.  It  is  no  duty  of  mine  to  take  up  a 
glove  thai  is  thrown  to  all  the  world;  it  is  no 
duty  of  mine  to  accept  a  general  challenge. 
Bui  if  the  honorable  member  shall  see  fit  to  be 
so  obliging  as  bo  inform  the  Senate,  in  my  hear 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  291 

ing,  on  what  occasion  the  State,  whose  repre- 
sentative I  stand  here,  has  forborne  to  observe 
or  has  broken  the  compromises  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, he  will  Jiud  in  me  a  COMBATANT  on  tliuf 
question" 

Senator  Mangum,  of  North  Carolina,  subse- 
quently said  that  the  word  "combatant'' 
weighed  at  least  forty  tons  ;  and  as  it  fell  from 
Webster's  lips,  he  took  a  step  towards  Butler, 
his  bronze  complexion  glowing  as  with  inward 
fire,  his  brow  clothed  with  thunder,  his  eyes 
blazing  lightning,  both  arms  raised,  and  his 
huge  form  towering  in  all  its  majesty.  It  is 
impossible  to  give  a  description  of  the  scene 
which  will  convey  any  idea  of  the  effect  which 
Webster  produced.  I  will  only  say  that  who- 
ever did  not  see  Daniel  Webster  on  that  occa- 
sion (or  has  not  seen  an  equivalent  spectacle) 
cannot  have  any  coxiception  of  what  a  magnifi- 
cent human  being  God's  creative  hand  can 
fashion. 

Butler  moved  uneasily  in  his  seat,  muttered 


292  <;ki:at   sknatoiis 

''I'll  answer  the  gentleman;  I'll  answer  the 
gentleman,"  and  attempted  to  rise.  But  he  was 
restrained  by  his  friends  (Calhoun  among  others) 
who  were  near  him.  They  did  not  wish  to 
provoke  Webster  into  making  one  of  his  over- 
whelming speeches,  in  favor  of  Massachusetts 
and  the  North,  at  that  time.  They  foresaw  the 
great  parliamentary  struggle  which  was  coming 
on.  and  under  the  lure  of  the  Presidency  in 
1852,  they  were  trying  to  keep  Webster  from 
assuming  a  pronounced  attitude  of  antagonism 
to  their  wishes.  So  Calhoun,  with  an  air  of 
childlike  innocence,  entered  into  the  debate,  and 
with  consummate  adroitness  turned  it  into  a 
cold,  passionless  discussion  of  constitutional 
points.  Webster  was  appeased,  missed  a  great 
opportunity,  went  on  his  way  under  the  lead  of 
the  subtle  influences  which  enveloped  him, 
made  bis  famous  seventh  of  March  speech  in 
the  following  year  I  lv.~-<>,  in  favor  of  the  Com- 
promise Measures,  and  having  been  thus  used 
for  their  purposes  by  the  Soul  h  and  its  Northern 


DANIEL  W  EBSTER  293 

allies,  he  was  contemptuously  cast  aside  by  them 
in  1s:>l\  and  died  in  October  of  that  year; 
going  down  to  his  grave  under  a  heart-crushing 

load  o\'  disappointed  ambition  and  political 
despair. 

VII.    Source  of  his  Political  Despair.— His 

Passionate  Love  of  the  Union.— His 

Incomparable  Political  Insight 

and  Foresight. 

Webster's  political  despair  was  caused  by  the 
vision  of  future  events  which  his  vast  powers  of 
comprehension  and  his  keen  and  far-reaching 
insight  revealed  to  him.  He  saw  clearly  into 
the  governing  principles  of  things,  and  he  saw 
clear  to  the  bottom.  He  never  mistook  effects 
for  causes.  He  never  got  lost  amid  the  chaotic 
antagonisms  of  phenomena,  but  always  struck 
right  back  to  the  fountain  heads  whence  the 
streams  of  events  flow.  In  his  Plymouth  Rock 
Oration  (1820),  he  indicated  the  dangers  with 
which 'the  country  would  ultimately  be  threat- 


294  GREAT     SENATORS. 

ened  on  account  of  slavery,  and  the  undue 
growth  of  monopolies  of  wealth  and  power. 
The  anti -monopolists  of  the  present  day  go  to 
that  oration  for  their  best  ammunition,  and  you 
see  what  Daniel  Webster  then  said  on  the 
subject  (sixty -nine  years  ago)  now  printed  in 
large  type  in  anti-monopolist  news] tapers. 

I  have  said  that  Webster's  veneration  was 
so  large  and  active  that  its  influence  pervaded 
his  affections  and  imparted  an  elevated  and 
reverent  quality  to  the  operations  of  his  mind. 
It  in  fact  pervaded  all  of  his  mental  and  moral 
attributes,  and  was  perceptible  in  whatever  he 
said.  There  was  a  subtle  element  of  reverence 
in  his  wit  and  humor,  which  gave  them  an 
indescribable  charm  and  power.  Every  one 
who  is  familiar  with  his  eloquence  knows  thai 
it  is  marked  by  a  Hebraic,  Biblical  quality  which 

-mil. -times  imparts  t<>  it  unusual  solemnity  and 
grandeur.  So  controlling  was  veneration  in 
Webster's  character,  I  have  no  doubi  that  when 
be  did  anything  wicked  he  did  it   reverently. 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  295 

[Jpon  his  patriotism,  the  effect  of  hi-  ivvcrcinv 
was  strongly  marked.  He  reverenced  the 
Revolutionary  Fathers,  of  whom  his  own 
revered  and  beloved  father  was  one  ;  he  rev- 
erenced their  motives  and  their  principles  ;  he 
reverenced  their  patience  and  their  fortitude  ; 
he  reverenced  their  trials  and  their  sufferings  ; 
he  reverenced  their  wisdom  and  their  virtues ; 
he  reverenced  their  achievements  and  their 
moderation  in  the  day  of  their  success  ;  and, 
above  all,  he  reverenced  the  American  Union, 
which  was  the  net  product  to  the  country  and 
to  the  human  race  of  all  their  long  and  some- 
times hopeless  struggle. 

Webster  not  only  reverenced  and  loved  the 
Union  with  all  his  heart,  mind,  soul  and 
strength,  but  he  understood  its  significance,  its 
worth,  its  necessity,  its  immeasurable  import- 
ance to  its  own  citizens  and  to  mankind. 
Wherefore,  Webster's  patriotism  was  not  only 
rooted  in  the  deepest,  widest,  clearest  logical 
perceptions  which   it  is  possible  for  a  human 


296  GREAT    SENATOR& 

mind  to  have  on  any  subject,  but  it  also  had 
the  overruling  force  of  a  religious  passion  ;  and 
his  love  of  country,  dominating  all  his  views  of 
public*  policy,  bound  his  conscience  in  invincible 
devotion  to  the  Union  and  to  its  preservation  at 
all  hazards  and  against  all  contingencies.  To 
him,  slavery,  or  any  incident  or  phenomenon 
connected  with  the  legislation  or  institutions  of 
Hi.'  country,  was  infinitely  of  no  consequence 
in  comparison  with  the  preservation  of  the 
Union.  Only  preserve  the  Union,  and  time 
and  the  ultimate  patriotism  and  good  sense  of 
the  people4  would  take  care  of  everything  else. 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  animated  by  a  similar 
love  for  flu*  Union  and  guided  by  similar  broad 
views  as  to  the  conditions  of  its  preservation, 
when,  in  reply  to  Horace  Greeley's  open  letter, 
addressed  to  him  in  August,  L862,  he  said  : 

"My  paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Union, 
and  not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery.  If  I 
could  save  the  Union  withoul  freeing  any 
slave,  I  would  do  it  :  if  I  could  save  it  by  free- 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  297 

ing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it  ;  and  if  I  could 
do  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone, 
1  would  also  do  that." 

It  is  vain  for  persons  who  do  not  understand 
these  attributes  of  Webster's  mind,  and  these 
traits  of  his  character,  to  attempt  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment upon  his  political  course.  As  well  might 
purblind  ducklings  presume  to  sit  in  judgment 
upon  an  eagle's  flight. 

Webster's  wonderful  power  of  analytical 
vision,  rendered  prescient  by  his  deep,  intense, 
elevating  reverence,  enabled  him  to  see  that  the 
compromise  measures  of  1S50  would  have  but 
temporary  influence  ;  that  the  conflict  between 
slavery  and  freedom  could  not  be  permanently 
pacificated  ;  that  war  between  the  North  and 
the  South  was  inevitable  ;  and  the  patriotic  old 
demigod,  who  loved  his  country  with  the  very 
religion  of  patriotism,  was  glad  to  take  leave  of 
the  scenes  in  which  he  had  so  long  been,  as 
Benton  said,   "  the  colossal  figure,  bearing  the 


298  GREAT    SENATORS. 

constitutional  ark  of  his  country's  safety  upon 
his  Atlantean  shoulders." 

Events  have  justified  Webster,  and  shown 
how  mistaken  were  the  hordes  of  abolitionists 
who  howled  upon  his  track  in  1S50.  I  say  this 
with  all  the  more  freedom  because  I  was  one  of 
the  fiercest  of  the  howlers  ;  and  I  will  add  that 
my  howls  were  honest  ones.  We  were  all  as 
conscientious  as  we  were  mistaken,  and  it  has 
all  turned  out  for  the  best,  because  God  can 
make  as  effectual  use  of  fools  as  of  sages. 
Webster  spoke  in  1S50  with  the  events  of  1861 
before  his  vivid  intellectual  vision.  And  when 
the  crisis  which  he  foretold  came,  and  the 
events  which  he  foresaw  in  ls5o  began  to  take 
place  in  L861,  Seward,  Chase  and  other  alarmed 
anti-slavery  statesmen  then  voted  in  Congress 

for   measures    which    Webster   was   hounded  t'> 

his  grave  lor  advocating  in  is.~>". 

In  the  lasl  paragraph  of  his  renowned  speech 
in  reply  to  Hayne  I  1830),  when  speaking  of  the 
then    threatened    dissolution    of    the    Union, 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  299 

Webster  said  :  kfc  While  the  Union  Lists,  we 
have  high,  exciting,  gratifying  prospects  spread 
out  before  us,  for  us  and  our  children.  Beyond 
that,  I  seek  not  to  penetrate  the  veil.  God 
giant,  that  in  my  day  at  least,  that  curtain  may 
not  rise.  God  grant,  that  on  my  vision  never 
may  be  opened  what  lies  beyond. "  His  prayer 
was  granted.  He  did  not  live  to  see  the  section- 
al and  fraternal  strife  which  he  alone  of  all  the 
men  of  his  time  clearly  foresaw  and  was  abso- 
lutely sure  would  come,  unless  the  people  of 
the  whole  country  would  learn,  and  abide  by, 
and  carry  out  in  all  their  political  relations,  the 
great  truth  taught  by  Goethe — 

"  Only  the  law  can  to  us  Freedom  give." 

And  happily,  when— to  paraphrase  his  own 
touching  and  eloquent  words  from  that  same 
speech  in  reply  to  Hayne— his  eyes  were  turned 
for  the  last  time  to  behold  the  sun  in  heaven, 
their  last  feeble  and  lingering  glance  beheld  the 
gorgeous  ensign  of  the  Republic,  known  and 


300  GREAT    SENATORS. 

honored  throughout  the  earth,  still  full  high 
advanced,  its  arms  and  trophies  streaming  in 
their  original  lustre,  not  a  stripe  erased  or  pol- 
luted, nor  a  single  star  obscured.  And  thanks 
be  to  God,  owing  largely  to  the  workings  of 
Divine  Providence  through  the  mighty  mind 
and  the  groat,  patriotic  heart  of  Daniel  Webster, 
the  gorgeous  ensign  of  the  Republic,  with  many 
bright  stars  added  to  its  ample  folds,  now  floats 
more  proudly  than  it  floated  when  Webster's 
eyes  closed  upon  it,  and  it  floats  over  a  Union 
whose  enduring  cohesion  has  come  forth  tri- 
umphant from  tip-  severest  test  to  which  any 
nation  or  government  could  be  subjected. 


I  have  scarcely  hinted  at  the  faults  of  the 
four  conspicuously  great  men  about  whom  I 
have   written    in    this   little  book.      Of  course 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  ;;.il 

they  had  faults,  and  I  intended  to  refer  bo  them, 
for  the  purpose  of  pointing  sundry  morals. 
But  I  find  thai  I  have  not  the  heart  to  do  it. 
They  have  gone  forward  into  their  eterna] 
environments,  "  every  one  unto  his  own  place." 
It  mat  lots  not  to  them  what  commotion  we 
may  raise  around  their  memories  here;  but  it 
does  matter  to  us  ;  for,  with  what  judgment  we 
judge  we  shall  surely  be  judged.  Those  great 
men  passed  their  lives  in  the  service  of  their 
country.  They  worked  for  us  long  and  well. 
every  one  according  to  his  own  light.  The 
unfortunate  political  aberration  which  overtook 
him  I  loved  best,  can  now  be  forgiven.  They 
were  sincere,  honest,  great  minded,  large- 
hearted  patriots,  and  looked  for  their  reward  to 
the  increasing  honor  and  glory  of  their  country, 
and  not  to  her  spoils  or  her  plunder.  While  we 
remember  their  services  with  gratitude,  we  can 
look  forgivingly  upon  their  errors.  And  so,  to 
the  accomplished  Christian  gentleman  Calhoun, 


302  (JKEAT     SKNATOUS. 

bo  the  tough  old  ironclad  Benton,  to  the  elo- 
quenl  and  chivalric  Clay  and  to  the  godlike 
Daniel,  Benediction  and  Farewell. 

FINIS. 


INDEX. 


ABOLITION  WITS— Their  joke  about  the  color  of  political 
babies  born  into  the  Union,  35. 

ALAMO — Sensation  occasioned  by  its  capture,  113. 

ADAMS,  CHARLES  FRANCIS— Named  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  on  the  Free-soil  ticket,  97;  nominated  for 
Vice-President,  103  ;  introduces  a  State  Rights  resolution 
in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  164. 

A.MBRISTER— British  emissary  hung  by  General  Jackson,  L75. 

ANECDOTES— Horace  Greeley's  home- going  after  the  nomi- 
nation of  General  Taylor,  81 ;  Mayor  Swift's  speech  at 
the  "  Grand  Whig  Ratification  Meeting  in  Philadelphia," 
84;  "Damn  his  cabbages  and  turnips,"  101;  John  P. 
Hale's  retort  on  Senator  Foote,  128;  Benton's  acknowl- 
edgement of  Jackson's  services  to  him,  208  ;  Benton  and 
his  book,  209  ;  a  batch  of  Bentonian  anecdotes,  212-213; 
one  of  Henry  (lay's  favorite  anecdotes,  231;  Tom  Mar- 
shall's anecdote,  241. 

ARBUTHNOT— British  emissary  hung  by  General  Jackson, 
175. 

ASTOR  HOUSE— Meeting  at,  of  Whig  delegates  to  the 
National  Convention  of  1848,  62. 

BADGER,  GEORGE  E.— (Senator  from  North  Carolina)— 
Introduces  a  resolution  to  discontinue  the  system  of 
reporting  the  debates  and  proceedings  of  Congress,  136. 

BARNBURNERS— One  of   the  sections   of   the   Democratic 

[303] 


INDKX. 

partj  in  the  State  of  New  York,  4:',  ;  partisans  of  Martin 
Van  liunii,  47  ;  their  great  indignation  meeting  in  the 
City  Hall  Park,  New  York,  61  ;  report  of  their  del<  g 
to  £he  Baltimore  Convention,  63;  David  Dudley  Field's 
address,  64;  great  influence  of  the  inciting,  65  ;  Barn- 
burner Convention  at  Utica  nominates  Van  Buren  for  the 
Presidency,  but  he  declines,  v"> ;  they  unite  with  the 
Free-soilers  in  a  national  movement,  98  and  following 
pages.  Sn  Free-soil  Convention,  93. 
BENTON,  THOMAS  11.  -His  insulting  manner  towards 
Calhoun,  L51  ;  his  hatred  of  (  alhoun,  190;  Benton  and 
loun  contrasted,  191  ;  Benton's  character,  196  ;  his 
mental  and  physical  characteristics,  197-198;  his  early 
life,  198-199;  his  fight  with  Old  Hickory,  199;  removes 
to  Missouri,  199;  his  fights  there,  200;  elected  1  .  S. 
S  oator,  200;  Bingular  personal  habits,  "The  Roman 
gladiators  did  it,  sir,"  201;  his  thick  skin,  202;  his 
characteristics  as  a  debater,  202-206;  how  he  cut  down 
the  reports  of  his  speeches,  206;  his  egotism,  207;  anec- 
dotes illustrating  his  egotism,  208  210;  other  anecdotes 
of  Benton,  211-213;  the  better  side  of  Benton's  character, 
214  216;  characteristic  conduct  as  he  was    dying,  217; 

his  manner  of  receiving  strangers  who  were  introduce, 1   to 

him,   237  238  ;    his  mode  of  building   up  an  argument, 

261. 
BBRRIBN,  JOHN   McPHERSON      Senator  from  Georg 

189. 
BOWIE,  COLONEL  JAMES     Killed  at  the  fall  of  the  Alamo, 

113. 
BOYS     Lockport,   N'.    Y..  boys,    118;  they  form  a  company 

to  march  down  and   ravage  Mexico,  114.     Georgia  boys, 

145  6.      South  '  '.irolina  hoys,    168. 

BRECKENRIDGE,  REV.  ROBERT  J.     How  he  was  "driven 
to  the  Bible  "  by  Henry  Clay,  241-8. 


INDEX,  305 

BRTNKBRHOPP  Free-soiler  from  Ohio;  his  stunning  ques- 
t ion  in  the  nominating  committee  of  the  Free- soil  Conven- 
tion,  101. 

BUENA  VISl'.V,  BATTLE  OF — Intense  excitement  of  the 
people  ;  the  way  the  news  was  received,  120   121. 

BUTLER,  ANDREW  P.  (Senator  from  South  Carolina)— He 
was  sick  of  the  word  compromise,  288  ;  he  arouses 
Webster's  indignation,  288-9.     ' 

BUTLER,  B.  F.—  A  distinguished  New  York  Lawyer,  92  ;  a 
pot  and  protege  of  Van  Buren's,  93  ;  His  consummate 
skill  in  managing  Van  Buren's  canvass  at  the  Free-soil 
Convention,  95  and  following  pages  ;  his  victorious 
answer  to  BrinkerhofFs  embarrassing  question,  102. 

CALHOUN,  JOHN  C— His  hostility  to  Vau  Buren,  91  ; 
opinions  of  Calhoun  in  the  North,  147  ;  his  personal 
appearance,  148  ;  bis  first  debate  (of  the  Session,)  149; 
his  captivating  style,  150  ;  my  change  of  feeling  towards 
him,  152  ;  a  New  Year's  call  on  Calhoun  152  ;  his  lesson 
in  phonography,  153  ;  how  reporters  annoyed  him,  153  ; 
the  State  Rights  doctrine  from  Calhoun's  lips,  154-158 ; 
origin  of  the  State  Rights  doctrine,  158-168  ;  Calhoun 
on  the  education  of  boys,  108-170  ;  his  opinion  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson.  171  ;  his  quarrel  with  General  Jackson,  and 
its  result,  172-184  ;  change  of  opinion  in  the  South  as 
to  slavery  caused  by  Calhoun's  teaching,  183;  his  fasci- 
nation in  personal  intercourse,  185  ;  Harriet  Martineau's 
mistake,  186;  Calhoun's  kindness  of  heart  and  purity  of 
soul,  187  ;  how  his  last  days  were  enriched  and  sweetened. 
188.  Benefit  to  me  of  my  acquaintance  with  Calhoun 
and  Jefferson  Davis  188-189.      - 

CAMBRELING,  CHURCHILL  C— One  of  the  committee  of 
Barnburner  delegates  to  report  to  the  New  York  meeting 
on  the  Baltimore  Convention,  63. 


306  INDEX. 

CAMERON,  SIMON— (Senator  from  Pennsylvania)     His  per- 

son:il  traits,  and  his  style  in  debate,  132  ;  how  he  brought 
on  the  first  debate   of  the  session  and  what  it  led  to,   132 

-136  ;  his  friendliness  to  reporters,  136-7  ;  his  loyalty 
to  friends,  and  his  grit,  138;  his  collision  with  Senator 
Foote,  139;  his  warm  but  sometimes  indiscreet  friends, 
140-1. 

CASS,  LEWIS— Nominated  for  the  Presidency  by  the  Demo- 
crats in  18-48,  38;  his  character.  45;  his  betrayal  of  Van 
Buren,  46  ;  defects  as  a  candidate,  45-46  ;  refusal  to 
take  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate  after  midnight 
of  March  3,  1849,  27:;. 

CHARACTER— Facts  and  principles  which  give  a  basis  for 
judging  character  and  conduct,  192,  200,  201  ;  the  true 
basis  of  character,   284. 

CHASE,  SALMON  P. -President  of  the  Free-soil  National 
Convention  of  1848,  99  ;  his  amendment  of  the  Free-soil 
battle-cry,  103;  feeling  aroused  by  his  anticipated  election 
as  U.  S.  Senator  from  Ohio,  107. 

CLAY.  HENRY — The  movement  to  prevent  his  nomination 
to  the  Presidency  in  L848,  the  reason  for  it,  and  the  man- 
agers of  it,  41-77  ;  some  of  Clay's  distinguishing 
characteristics,  218;  his  phenomenal  popularity,  and  the 
reasons  for  it,  218  221  ;  his  oratory.  222-224;  the  secret 
of  his  unique  and  resistless  character,  221  226;  his  hon- 
esty,   industry   and    simplicity,     226  228  ;    how   all  this 

added  to  tin-    power    of    his     oratory.    228    9  :    one    of    his 

favorite  anecdotes,  231  2;  his  chief  fault  in  debate,  and 
his  collision  with  Calhoun,  233;  the  reconciliation  of 
Clay  and  Calhoun.  235;  the  way  in  which  Clay  received 
a  stranger  who  was  introduced  to  him.  239  40;  Tom 
Marshall's  anecdote,  241;  Clay's  felicity  in  exordium,  ami 
a  notable  example  of  it,  211  49;  the  speech  that  gave 
him  the  Whig  nomination  t<>  the  Presidency  in  L844,  249; 


INDEX.  307 

a  Whig  poet's  touching  lament  over  his  defeat,  250  ;  why 
Clay's  enthusiastic  admirers  are  reconciled  to  his  defeat, 
250. 

CLAYTON,  JOHN  M.— (Senator  from  Delaware)— Introduces 
(with  Benton)  an  anti-slavery  petition  from  the  inhab- 
itants of  New  Mexico,  49. 

CROCKETT,  COLONEL  DAVID— Killed  at  the  capture  of 
the  Alamo,  1 13. 

DALLAS,  GEORGE  M.— Vice-President,  205. 

DAVIS,   JEFFERSON— His  gallantry    at    Bnena  Vista,  121, 

123  ;  his  personal  appearance  in  1848;  his  ability  and 
manner  in   debate,  123-4;  his  personal   kindness   to    me, 

124  ;  his  kindness  to  everybody,  125 ;  my  surviving 
affection  for  him,  125  ;  his  powerful  assistance  in  getting 
the  bill  creating  the  Department  of  the  Interior  passed  by 
the  Senate,  272. 

DISUNION— (See  State  Rights.) 

DODGE,  HENRY  (Senator  from  Wisconsin.) —Proposed  as  a 
candidate  for  the  Presidency  at  the  Free-soil  Convention, 
but  declines,   97. 

DOUGLAS,  STEPHEN  A.— His  rank  as  a  debater,  his  voice 
and  manner,  129;  ''The  Little  Giant,"  but  not  a  little 
man,  129;  not  a  taint  of  snobbishness  about  him,  130; 
his  winning  manner  with  young  men,  and  their  fondness 
for  him,  130-31  ;  lasting  influence  of  his  manner,  131. 

EATON,  GENERAL  JOHN  II.—  General  Jackson's  friend 
and  Secretary  of  War,  177  ;  marries  the  widow  Timber- 
lake,  177;  singular  consequences  of  the  marriage,  178- 
180. 

EATON,  MRS.-(wifeof  General  John  11.  Eaton.)  — Her  father 
a  tavernkeeper  in  Washington,  named  O'Xeil,  177  ;  she 
marries  Purser  Timberlake,  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  177;  is 
left    a    widow,  177;  unpleasant    gossip    about    her,    178; 


308  INM.Y 

marries  General  Baton  and  becomes  a  Cabinet  lady,  177; 
horror  of  the  other  Cabinet  ladies,  17s.  they  ostracize 
Mrs.  Eaton,  178-9;  Bociety  convulsed  by  tn  unexampled 
social  war,  179  ;  General  Jackson  enters  the  lists  in  favor 
of  Mrs.  Baton,  and  is  beaten  l>y  the  ladies— his  first  and 
only  defeat,  17'.'  ;  end  of  the  Bocial  war  and  retirement 
of  Mrs.  Eaton,  17'.'  80. 

EDUCATION  Alexander  II.  Stephens  on  boys  in  Georgia, 
144-146;  Calhoun's  theory  of  education,  168-9;  the 
education  of  South  Carolina  boys  contrasted  by  Calhoun 
with  that  of  boys  in  the  North,  169. 

ENVIRONMENT— (See  Heredity). 

EWING,  THOMAS     (the  first  Secretary  of  the  interior)— His 
opinion  <>f  Alexander  II.  Stephens's  statement  with  n  . 
to  the  mental  requisitions    of    Georgia   hoys  14  years  old, 
145-1  16. 

FAN  MX,  COLONEL— The  massacre  of  him  and  his  men,  by 
tin-  Mexicans,  at  c<>li;id,  114. 

FIELD,  DAVID  DUDLEY— His  address  at  the  great  Barn- 
burner meeting  in  the  City  Hall  Park,  New  York,  in 
L848,  64. 

FILLMORE,    MILLARD     Nominated  for  Vice-President    by 

the  Whig   Convention    of    1848,    s"  ;     was    elected    to    the 

Vice-Presidency,  1<»»''. 

FOOTE,  HENRY  S.  (Senator  from  Mississippi)— Threatens  to 
han-  .lo.ii,  P.  Hale  if  he  should  go  to  Mississippi,  128; 
Foote's  collision  with  Senator  Cameron,  189;  his  intoler- 
able verbosity,  278;  he  i-  hissed  and  groaned  at  in  the 
Senate,  279;  hi-  magniloquent  response,  279;  Webster 
sweeps  him  out  of  the  debate,  281  282. 

1  REE  -"II.   CONVENTION,   98. 

FROG,  \i  i,i  ST1  8  The  winning  way  in  which  Thurlow 
W  i  ed  treated  him  and  all  his  tribe,  53  54. 


INDEX.  309 

GOVERNMENT— Calhoun's  theory  of  the  difference  between 
government  and  sovereignty,  154-165. 

GREELEY,  HORACE— His  excitement  and  personal  appear- 
ance in  the  Whig  National  Convention  of  L848,  77;  his 
bitter  disappointment  at  Clay's  defeat,  "  I'm  going  home 
across  New  Jersey  afoot  and  alone,"  81-82;  he  hesitates 
to  support  General  Taylor  for  the  Presidency,  105;  but 
his  hatred  of  the  Democrats  brings  him  into  the  fight, 
106;  is  nominated  for  Congress  and  goes  into  the  contest 
with  all  his  energy,  100;  his  open  letter  to  President 
Lincoln  in  1862,  296. 

HALE,  JOHN  P. — Nominated  by  Free-soilers  for  the  Presi- 
dency in  1847,  44  ;  his  popularity  at  the  Free-soil 
Convention  in  1848,  95  ;  his  friends  are  out-generalled  by 
the  Van  Buren  men,  98;  Hale  is  the  first  man  elected  U. 
S.  Senator  on  a  square  anti  slavery  issue,  126;  what  a 
Methodist  clergyman  said  about  him,  126;  Hale's  courage, 
good-nature,  wit  and  laziness,  127;  his  voice  and  style  of 
speaking,  127;  his  effective  retort  on  Senator  Foote,  128. 

HAMLIN,  HANNIBAL— The  youngest  of  the  survivors  of 
the  Senators  of  1848,  141  ;  his  honesty,  integrity  and 
geniality,  141. 

HASKELL— (of  Tennessee)— Delegate  to  the  Whig  National 
Convention  of  1848,  73. 

HAVEMEYER,  WILLIAM  F.— One  of  the  committee  of 
Barnburner  delegates  to  report  to  the  great  meeting  in 
the  City  Hall  Park,  63. 

HEREDITY— One  of  the  factors  in  the  production  of  charac- 
ter, and  environment  the  other  factor,  192;  heredity  can 
be  modified  and  directed  but  not  elementally  changed, 
192-3;  tragic  story  illustrating  this,  L93;  an  attempt  to 
change  the  heredity  of  a  bear,  and  its  terrible  result, 
194-5;  the  doctrine  of  heredity  and  environment  explains 
all  kinds  of  social  enigmas,  195-6. 


310  i.\i)i:x. 

BOUSTON,  GENERAL  8AM.— The  romance  which  encircled 
his  name  40  years  ago,  and  the  brilliancy  of  his  early  ca- 
reer, 111 ;  elected  Governor  of  Tennessee,  marries  a  beau- 
tiful girl,  makes  a  terrible  discovery,  resigns  his  office, 
and  flees  from  civilization,  111-12;  becomes  a  Cherokee 
chief;  goes  to  Texas,  defeats  Santa  Anna,  is  elected  U. 
S.  Senator,  112  ;  his  personal  appearance  and  style  of 
dress,  116;  unfitted  for  civilization  by  his  wild  life,  117; 
whittling  was  his  chief  occupation  in  the  Senate,  117;  he 
was  a  tender-hearted  old  barbarian,  and  chivalrously  de- 
voted to  women,  117-1S  ;  was  a  lonely,  melancholy  man, 
118;  a  sincere  lover  of  his  country,  118. 

JACKSON,  ANDREW— His  high-handed  conduct  in  Florida, 
1  75  ;  the  members  of  Monroe's  Cabinet  required  to  give 
written  opinions  on  it,  170;  Calhoun  gives  the  only 
adverse  opinion,  yet  Jackson  gets  the  idea  that  Calhoun 
was  the  only  friend  he  had  in  the  Cabinet,  176;  Jackson's 
gratitude  to  Calhoun,  176 ;  Calhoun's  adverse  opinion 
brought  to  light,  176;  the  wrath  of  Old  Hickory,  176; 
effect  of  the  exposure  on  Calhoun's  career,  182, 

KENNEDY,  JOHN  A.. -One  of  the  committee  of  Barnburner 
delegates,  63. 

KING,  THOMAS  BUTLER-  Delegate  from  Georgia  to  the 
Whig  National  Convention  of  184s-.  and  one  of  the  lead- 
en in  the  movement  to  defeat  Clay  and  nominate  General 

Taylor,  41. 

LAWRENCE,  ABBOT  Why  he  was  not  put  on  the  Whig 
ticket  as  the  candidate  for  Vice-President  in  184s,  7'.' 
80. 

LINCOLN,  ABRAHAM  Extrad  from  his  reply  to  Horace 
Greeley's  open  letter  addressed  to  him  in  August,  1862, 
296. 


INDEX.  311 

MACLAY,  ROBERT   II.— One   of   the  Committee  ol    Barn 

burner  delegates,  63. 
McLEAN,  JOHN     A  Justice  of  the   U.   S.   Supreme  Court  ; 

his  interest  in  phonography;  u  lecture  on  it  in  his  parlors, 
148  ;  an  interesting  incident,  144-146. 
M<  Mh'HAKU  MORTON— Editor  of  the  Philadelphia  North 

American;  Horace  Greeley's  visit  to  the  North  American 
office,  after  the  nomination  of  General  Taylor,  81  ; 
McMicbael's  solicitude  as  to  Mayor  Swift's  rhetoric, 
84. 

MANGUM,  WILLIE  P.— (Senator  from  North  Carolina.)— 
His  estimate  of  the  weight  of  the  word  "combatant1' 
when  Webster  hurled  it  at  Senator  Butler  of  South  Caro- 
lina, 291. 

MARSHALL,  THOMAS  F.  —  His  anecdote  about  Henry  Clay, 
241. 

MARTINEAU,  HARRIET— Her  singular  remark  about  Cal- 
houn's mind,  185. 

MORRIL,  MR.— A  delegate  from  New  York  to  the  Whig 
National  Convention  of  1848;  he  made  a  promise  which 
secured  the  nomination  of  Fillmore  as  Vice-President, 
80. 

MURPHY,  DENNIS  F.— Now  the  leading  reporter  in  the  U. 
S.  Senate;  a  pupil  of  mine,  14  years  old,  in  1848;  his 
brilliant  exhibition  of  fast  writing  at  Judge  McLean's, 
143  ;  what  Calhoun  said  of  him,  168. 

NE  WSPAPERS  —National  Intelligencer,  33.  Albany  Evening 
Journal  ;  its  relative  influence  in  1848,  51  ;  New  York 
city  papers  :  The  Sun,  Herald,  Tribune— when  they  were 
founded,  and  their  circulation  in  1848,  51-52  :  The 
Times  and  the  World  not  yet  born,    51. 

OLD  HUNKERS— One  of  the  sections  of  the  Democratic  party 


312  INDEX. 

in  the  State  of  New  York,  who  were  charged   with   the 

political  assassination  of  Silas  Wright,  48. 
O'NEIL,  PEGGY— (See  Eaton,  Mrs.) 
ORLEANS  TERRITORY,  NOW  LOUISIANA— Debate  on  its 

admission  to  the  Union  as  a  State,  159-160. 

POINDEXTER,  MR.— Calls  Josiah  Quincy  to  order,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  for  advocating  disunion  senti- 
ments, 160. 

POLK,  JAMES  K. — In  attendance  at  the  Capitol,  on  the  last 
night  of  his  term,  to  sign  bills,  277  (Note;  ;  he  "goes 
home"  after  the  hour  of  midnight,  "J  7  7. 

POLK,  TRUSTEN — Candidate  for  Governor  of  Missouri, 
against  Benton  ;  Benton's  characterization  of  him,  21:2. 

PONY  EXPRESS,  by  which  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista  was  brought  to  the  United  States  and  carried 
through  the  country,  121. 

QUINCY,  JOSIAH  —  Member  of  Congress  from  Massachuetts 
and  originator  of  the  doctrine  of  secession,  159-163. 

QUINTILIAN — His  "Institutes  of  Oratory;"  principles 
therein  laid  down,  265. 

RAYMOND,  HENRY  J.— The  "reasoning"  editor  of  the 
New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer  in  1848;  his  hatred  of 
i  [orace  I  rreeley,  82. 

REPORTERS  The  system  of  reporting  in  the  U.  8.  Senate 
in  1848;  pay  of  reporters  ;  135  6.  What  Senator  Cam- 
eron -aid  of  the  reporters  in  the  Senate,  L37. 

RUSK,  THOMAS  S.    -General  Houston's  colleague,  L16. 

RUSSELL,  Mil.  His  attempt  to  change  the  heredity  of  a 
bear,  and  tin-  tragical  result,  193-4. 

SANTA  ANNA     Defeated  and  captured  by  Genera]  Houston, 

112. 


tNDEX.  313 

SCOTT,  GENERAL  WINFEELD— His  popularity  as  a  hero 

of  the  Mexican  war,  42  ;   a  competitor  Tor  the  Whig  QOm 
ination    to    the    Presidency    in    1848,  72-7:5  ;   used    as    a 
"dark  horse"  to  delude  friends  of  Henry  Clay,  78. 

SECESSION.— (See  State  Rights). 

SEWARD,  WILLIAM  II.  — Why  the  people  did  not  readily 
perceive  his  intellectual  greatness,  r>7 ;  his  wonderful 
sagacity  ;  how  he  cultivated  the  friendship  of  young 
men,  58.  His  use  of  religionists  and  reformers  ;  his  mar- 
velous instinct  as  to  when,  how,  where  and  to  whom  to 
speak  on  critical  subjects  ;  his  gift  for  formulating 
a  battle-cry;  his  social  qualities,  59  ;  he  and  Thurlow 
Weed  work  together,  60  ;  it  is  rumored  that  he  will  be 
influential  with  President  Taylor  ;  the  ill-feeling  caused 
by  that  rumor,  108. 

SMITH,  TRUMAN— One  of  the  managers  of  the  movement 
against  Henry  Clay  in  1848,  41  ;  his  wily  course  in  the 
Whig  National  Convention,  72;  he  sounds  the  knell  of 
Clay.  76. 

SOUTHERN  DOMINATION— Fixed  policy  of  the  South  as  to 
the  admission  of  States  into  the  Union,  34  ;  Martin  Van 
Buren's  chafing  under  Southern  leadership,  90  ;  what 
Webster  said  of  it,  90. 

SOVEREIGNTY— (See  Government). 

STATE  RIGHTS— Calhoun's  off-hand  statement  of  the  State 
Rights  doctrine,  153-158;  the  State  Rights,  secession,  or 
disunion  doctrine  not  a  South  Carolina,  but  a  Massa- 
chusetts heresy,  158-167;  Josiah  Quincy  introduces  it 
into  Congress,  159  ;  Charles  Francis  Adams  subsequently 
introduces  it  into  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  163. 

STEPHENS,  ALEXANDER  EL—  I  Representative  from  Geor- 
gia)— His  course  at  a  lecture  on  phonograph}-  in  Judge 
McLean's  parlors;  he  says  that  he  and  other  Georgia  boys, 
at  the  age  of  14,  knew  the  Declaration   of   Independence 


314  INDEX. 

and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  by  heart,  144, 
145. 
SWIFT— (Mayor    of    Philadelphia)— He    presides   over    the 
"Great   Whig  Ratification  Meeting,"  83;    his  whimsical 
rhetoric,  84. 

TAYLOR,  GENERAL  ZACHARY—  Hero  of  the  Mexican  war; 
popular  with  the  people  but  not  with  the  politicians,  42  ; 
William  II.  Seward  and  Thnrlow  Weed  see  that  his 
nomination  is  necessary  to  save  the  Whig  party  from 
defeat,  4S-40 ;  Taylor  is  nominated,  77;  and  elected,  107. 

TTLDEN,  SAMUEL  J.— One  of  the  committee  of  Barnburner 
delegates,  63. 

TRA  VIS,  COLONEL— Massacred  at  the  capture  of  the  Alamo, 
113. 

VAN  BUREN,  MARTIN— Van  Buren  a  greater  and  better 
man  than  he  was  supposed  to  be,  86;  he  and  Clay  at  a 
Wistar  party  in  Philadelphia,  86  ;  the  two  great  rivals 
contrasted,  86-87 ;  analysis  of  Van  Buren'e  character 
88-89 ;  his  disrelish  of  Southern  leadership,  and  his 
desire  to  avenge  himself  on  General  Cass  and  the  Demo- 
cratic Party,  89-92  ;  his  letter  to  the  Free-soil  Convention, 
95 ;  he  is  nominated  for  the  Presidency  by  the  Free-soil 
Convention  and  accepts,  108—104 

WALKER,  ISAAC  P.— (Senator  from  "Wisconsin  (—Proposes 
an  amendment,  providing  a  government  for  California,  to 
the  Civil  and  Diplomatic  Appropriation  bill,  275. 

WALKER,  ROBERT  J.  (Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  Polk's 
Cabinet). — Draft-  the  bill  establishing  the  Interior 
Department,  269. 

WEBB,  JAMES  WATSON  His  excitemenl  and  appearance 
at  the  Whig  National  (''invention  of  1MS.  77. 


INDEX.  315 

WEBSTER,  DANIEL— He  is  a  competitor  for  the  Whig  oom 
ination  to  the  Presidency  in  L848,  71  3;  his  characteriz- 
ation of  Southern  policy,  (.H» ;  his  dissatisfaction  with  tin- 
nomination  of  General  Taylor;  finally  makes  a  speech  in 
favor  of  the  Whig  ticket,  109  ;  his  cold  manner  of  receiv- 
ing strangers,  238.  The  godlike  Daniel— his  greatness, 
his  personal  appearance,  251-255  ;  Webster's  first  appear- 
ance (of  the  session)  in  the  Senate;  the  way  he  was 
received,  255-7;  description  in  Paradise  Lost  that 
exactly  fitted  him,  258.  Webster's  mental  make-up;  the 
wonderful  characteristics  of  his  mind  ;  his  power,  his 
subtlety,  his  comprehensiveness,  the  clearness  of  his  men 
tal  vision,  his  common  sense,  his  eloquence,  his  oratory, 
258-297.  Webster  as  a  parliamentary  leader  ;  the  all- 
night  debate  on  March  3,  1849  :  exciting  scenes  ; 
Webster's  tact,  power,  mastery  and  triumph,  267-283. 
Other  traits  of  Webster's  character;  his  incomputable  ser- 
vice to  the  country,  284  to  287.  An  occasion  when 
Webster  was  enraged  :  Senator  Butler  of  South  Carolina 
rouses  him  up;  his  terrific  burst  of  indignation,  287- 
292.  His  political  despair,  and  the  reason  of  it,  293  ;  his 
passionate  love  of  the  Union  ;  the  effect  of  his  unequalled 
veneration  upon  his  patriotism;  his  supreme  solicitude 
was  to  have  the  Union  preserved;  his  touching  and 
patriotic  prayer  answered,  293-300. 

WEED,  THURLOW— Chief  manager  of  the  movement  to 
defeat  Clay  and  nominate  General  Taylor,  in  1848,  41. 
The  secret  of  Weed's  political  power — how  he  gained  his 
power,  and  the  way  he  kept  it,  50-57.  His  consummately 
skillful  management  in  getting  General  Taylor  nominated, 
60-77  ;  and  in  securing  his  election  to  the  Presidency, 
85-107. 

WESTCOTT,  J.  D.  JR.  — (Senator  from  Florida)— He  is 
rebuked  by  Colonel  Benton,  204. 


316  INDEX. 

WILMOT,  DAVID— (Representative  from  Pennsylvania) — In- 
troduces an  amendment  to  the  three  million  bill,  which 
becomes  famous  as  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  36;  the 
unexampled  excitement  caused  by  the  Wilmot  Proviso, 
3C-38. 

WRIGHT,  SILAS — One  of  the  most  noted  men  of  his  time  ; 
Van  Buren'a  intimate  friend  ;  his  alleged  political  assas- 
sination by  the  Old  Hunkers,  and  the  wrath  of  the  Barn- 
burners thereat,  47-8. 


WHAT  LEADING  NEWSPAPERS   SAY  ABOUT 
THE  NEW  YORK  LEDGER. 


[FROM   THE  NEW   YORK  MAIL  AND  EXPRESS.] 

Under  the  energetic  and  capable  management  of  Mr.  Bonner's  Sons,  his 
great  family  paper,  the  New  York  Ledger,  is  making  long  Bt rides  forward  ; 

and  brilliant  as  its  past  has  been,  the  future  bids  Pair  to  surpass  it.  Mr. 
Bonner  was  indeed  fortunate,  not  only  in  founding  a  great  and  beneficent 
literary  enterprise,  nut  in  leaving  descendents  \\  bo  an-  fully  capable  of  car- 
rying out  successfully  even  larger  plans  than  the  founder  proposed. 

[FROM   THE  PHILADELPHIA    LEDGER.] 

The  New  York  Ledger  lias  successfully  maintained  its  popularity  in 
despite  of  that  rivalry  which  its  own  great  merits  provoked.  Instead  of  a 
mere  story  paper,  the  I.<  </f/<  /•  is  so  broadened  as  to  make  it  a  chronicle  of  the 
most  sentient  thought  of  the  time  ;  it  educates  as  well  as  entertains,     n  is 

none  the  less  a  story  paper,  and  its  stories  are  good  stories  ;  neither  is  it  any 
the  less  a  paper  w  Inch  readt  is  of  the  widest  culture  may  read  with  profit  and 
pleasure. 

[FROM  THE  BOSTON  EVENING  JOURNAL.] 

Robert  Bonner's  Sons  are  determined  to  bear  the  mantle  which  has  fallen 
on  their  shoulders  beyond  any  mark  yet  reached.  Asa  popular  story  paper, 
the  Ledger  has  made  its  chief  reputation,  bill  it  has  much  enhanced  this  by 
enlisting  in  its  sen  ice  the  pens  of  men  v  hose  words  have  touched  the  varied 
keys  of  the  human  heart. 

[FROM  THE  BROOKLYN  STANDARD  UNION.] 

Robert  Bonner's  Sons  have  taken  hold  of  the  Ledger  with  an  energy  that 
is  refreshing.  The  father  worked  eight)  en  1  our-  a  day  t<>  establish  Ins  pub- 
lication ;  the  sons  are  working  night  and  day  to  make  a  success  thai  will 
eclipse  all  their  father's  efforts;  they  have  started  in  the  right  way;  first, 
they  are  di  terminer]  to  keep np the  Ledgi  r's  standard  of  purity,  and.  second, 
they  are  determined  to  employ  the  brightest  pens  to  be  found  in  the  fields  of 
wholesome  literature  at  home  and  abroad. 

[FROM  THE  CLEVELAND  PLAINDEALER.] 

The  contributors  to  the  Ledger  include  the  most  notable  writers  in  the 
field  of  history,  Bcience,  biography,  poetry,  lit  rat u re.  and  all  that  relates  to 
the  educational  interests  and  the  social  and  domestic  well-being  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  Ledger  is  suited  to  the  wants  <>f  all,  old  and  young,  and  i-  dis- 
tinctively the  family  literary  paper  of  the  country. 


[FROM  THE  ALBANY  EXPRESS.] 

Among  the  illustrated  weekly  papers,  none  has  reached  and  maintained  a. 
higher  standard  of  uniform  excellence  than  the  New  York  Ledger.  The 
Ledcjtr  is  firmly  fixed  in  the  confidence  and  the  affections  of  the  American 
people. 

[FROM  THE  NEW  YORK  STJN.] 

This  week's  issae  of  that  interesting  and  entertaining  family  paper,  the 
New  York  Ledger,  lias  been  issued  nnder  a  new  form,  and  presents  a  very 
pleasing  appearance.  There  are  several  new  features  to  the  paper.  The 
Ledger m  a  new  dress  will  naturally  be  a  surprise,  but  tin:  imp'rovemeni  is 
so  marked  that  the  surprise  is  very  satisfactory. 

[FROM  THE  PITTSBURG  POST.] 

The  New  York  Ledger   has   never  had  a  rival  in  its  special  field,  and  the 
enterprise  and  sagacity  with  w  bich  it  is  now  conducted  indicates  that  il 
not  in  the  future  intend  to  invite  one  or  put  up  with  one. 

[FROM  THE  PHILADELPHIA  EVENING  CALL.] 

The  New  Y'ork  Ledger  has  ever  been,  in  the  lest  sense  of  the  name,  a 
'•  Family  Paper.1'  It  has  been  a  welcome  visitor  in  the  best  homes  of  the 
land.  Never  an  impure  word  nor  a  suggestion  that  was  not  ennobling  has 
appeared  in  its  columns;  clergymen  ami  historians,  as  w-  II  a-  novelists  a;  d 
poets,  have  been  its  constant  contributors.  Robei  t  Bonner's  Sons  air  prov- 
ing themselves  worthy  of  their  father,  which  is  paying  much,  and  there  can 
re  no  doubt  that  their  success  will  be  greater. 

[FROM  THE   JERSEY  CITY  JOURNAL.] 

Robert  Bonner's  Sons  have  taken  hold  of  the  Ledger  like  old  journalists, 
and  are  following  the  excellent  example    set   by  their  father.     The   /■ 
has    always    been  a    clean,    pure  family    paper,  and    has    employed   the  best 
talent  in  the  world.    Mr.  Bonner's  sons  propose  to  k<  ep  op  this  policy,  and 

every  lover  of  pure  literature  must  wish  then;  BUCCess. 

[FROM  THE  SHERMAN   (TEX.)  COURIER.] 
The  New  York  Ledger  i-  the  greatest  of  story  papers. 

[FROM  THE  NEW  YORK   STAR.] 
A  new  era  is  marked  in   Robert  Bonner's  Sons    success,  the  New  Yorj 

Ledger.     A  few  week-  past   its    patrons    were   more    than    pleased    Willi   tli 

announcement  that  Mrs.  Frances  Bodgson  Burnett,  at  an  enormous expensi 
had  been  engaged  to  supply  the  Ledger   with  a    serial.    Closeon  to  this 
announcement  its  publishers  give  its'  readers  a  delightful  surpiisebyan 
issue  this  week  having  little  of  the  appearance  of  its  former  issms.    The 
mechanical  features  are  most  important,  for  therein  lies  the  great  change. 

[FROM  THE  HARTFORD    (CT.)   TIMES.] 

The  New  York  Ledger  of  this  week  will  be  a  surprise  to  its  readers.  The 
improvements  add  vastly  to  the  results  of  what  we  have  always  regarded  as 
the  best,  cleanest  and  mosl  wholesome  family  story  paper  in  the  country. 

| FROM  THE  NORRISTOWN  iPA.)  WEEKLY  HEBALD.] 

The  New  York  Ledger  has  always  been  the  handsomest  and  best  of  the 

family  story  papers,  ami  it  is  now  more  BO  than  ever. 


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